Source: CalArts
REDCAT, CalArts’ downtown center for contemporary arts, presents Morton Subotnick, one of the most inventive minds in music on Tuesday, February 13 and Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. Subotnick will be joined onstage by Joan La Barbara and Lillivan.
Morton Subotnick performs works that bookend 50 continuous years of avant-garde vision. Subotnick presides over his onstage studio, revisiting his 1967 technological and artistic masterpiece Silver Apples of the Moon live.
A crucial milestone in electronic music, Silver Apples of the Moon was instantly iconic when it was released by Nonesuch Records 50 years ago (1967), influencing generations of artists, as the first album of all-electronic music featuring exotic timbres and dance-inspiring rhythms. Subotnick performs the piece accompanied by his frequent collaborator, video artist Lillevan.
Silver Apples of the Moon was recently entered into the National Registry of Recorded works at the Library of Congress, one of only 300 recordings throughout the entire history of recording chosen.
Also on the program is the new work Crowds and Power, a media tone poem for voice, electronic sound and live imagery inspired by Elias Canetti’s troubling and eternally relevant book. Legendary vocalist Joan La Barbara, champion of the avant-garde, performs the central character and Berlin-based artist Lillevan provides a live visual environment.
More than a generation ago Subotnick helped to create a new music genre, one that still resonates with contemporary audiences. Seeming simultaneously composed and spontaneously improvised, this immersive performance wraps audiences in a sonic swell of surprising distortions, energetic rhythms and moving meditations.
A founding member of the Music Faculty at CalArts, in 1969 Subotnick was invited be part of a team of artists to move to Los Angeles to plan the new school. Mel Powell was Dean and Subotnick was Associate Dean and the team of four other pairs of artists who carved out a new path of music education and created the now famous California Institute of the Arts.
