Alvin Lucier: A Celebration

Biographies

45 (1988); and Wendy Stokes and Alvin Lucier Peering through Chinese Space, Richard Tuttle’s Sculpture for Performance Work with Mei-mei Berssenbrugge and Lucier (1994). Ephemera: Noteworthy concert programs, articles, reviews, etc. Objects: Brain wave amplifier; Sondols; toy crickets; tapes from the original performance of John Cage’s Rozart Mix* (1965); Notes in the Margins, program book, hand-written by Alvin Lucier, for the re-creation of the 1965 concert at Brandeis University for the “John Cage at Wesleyan Symposium” (1988); Edmund Catchpool, and John Satterly, A Textbook of Sound (c.1894/7th ed.,1949); Donald R. Griffin, Echoes of Bats and Men (1959); Hans Jenny, Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena & Vibration (1967); Calvin R. Graf, Listen to Radio Energy, Light and Sound (1978); Lawrence Wechsler, Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin (1982); works of literature related to compositions by Lucier, etc. Biographies Jane Alden, musicologist, is associate professor of music at Wesleyan University and author of Songs, Scribes and Society: The History and Reception of the Loire Valley Chansonniers (Oxford University Press, 2010). Her ongoing research addresses both medieval and experimental music. Robert Ashley, composer, is co-founder of the ONCE Festivals of contemporary music and the Sonic Arts Union, and former director of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College (1969 –1981). His work in new forms of opera and multi-disciplinary performance are acknowledged classics of language in a musical setting. artist, singing her paintings into existence or perhaps simply humming to herself as she worked on them. Other works in the exhibition Robert Ashley, Opera for Television: Music with Roots in the Aether Part 3 (1976), including Landscape with Alvin Lucier, an interview by Ashley with Lucier (see above). George Manupelli, Dr. Chicago Trilogy, excerpts from three films: Dr. Chicago (1968); Ride Dr. Chicago Ride (1970); Cry Dr. Chicago (1971), all starring Alvin Lucier as Dr. Chicago, with Mary Ashley, Steve Paxton and others. Official website: georgemanupelli.com. These three films were recently among the first group of experimental films selected to be restored by the American Film Institute. George Stevens, Jr., Founder/Director, AFI: “Dr. Chicago is the next American folk hero.” Nam June Paik, Double Portrait: John Cage and Alvin Lucier (c. 1975), collage: two playing cards mounted and framed, 8” x 10”. Photographs: More than 40 archival photographs are part of the exhibition, including: Young Lucier and His Father at a Rotary Dinner in Nashua, NH (c. 1937); Lucier as Riflery Instructor, Riflery Range with Campers, Camp Wonalancet, NH (c. 1948); Graduation from Yale ’54 in Marching Band Regalia, with Mother; Lucier Receiving Prize from Aaron Copland, Tanglewood Residency (c. 1959); Lucier Preparing Equipment for Music for Solo Performer (1964); Lucier (conductor) at Karlheinz Stockhausen’s U.S. Premiere of Originale with Allen Ginsberg, Allan Kaprow (director), Mary Bauermeister, Robert Breer at Judson Hall, NYC, (1964); Restaurant Menu with Photograph of Cast of Dr. Chicago and Bob Ashley at Dinner (c.1969); Lucier and John Cage Blowing Up Balloons for Performance of Christian Wolff’s 1964 Composition, For 1, 2, or 3 People David Behrman, composer and designer of multimedia installations, teaches at the Bard College Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts and contributes music to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He was a cofounder , with Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma, of the Sonic Arts Union. Anthony Braxton, recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (1994), is a composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist and philosopher. He is professor of music at Wesleyan University, director of the Tri-Centric Foundation and has released well over a hundred albums. Neely Bruce, composer, conductor, pianist and scholar, is professor of music and American studies at Wesleyan University. His catalog of works include over 250 songs and 5 operas, and he was the first pianist ever to perform the entire song oeuvre of Charles Ives (as part of the Ives Vocal Marathon). Anthony Burr, clarinettist, is a leading interpreter of contemporary music. Assistant professor of music at the University of California, San Diego, he has collaborated with Laurie Anderson, Alvin Lucier, John Zorn, Charles Curtis and experimental filmmaker Jennifer Reeves. Thomas Buckner, baritone and recipient of the American Music Center’s Letter of Distinction (1996), is widely recognized for his rich contribution as an innovative performer, producer and promoter of some of the most adventurous music of the 20th century. Nicolas Collins (’76, MA ’79) is professor in the Department of Sound...