2012-2013 Series Press Release

UA ANNOUNCES 2012-2013 SEASON OF SONIC FRONTIERS CONCERT SERIES
First Concert Features Tim Daisy’s “Vox Arcana” Trio from Chicago

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama is pleased to present the second season of Sonic Frontiers, with a lineup of genre-defying concerts featuring musicians from Chicago, New York City, Germany, the Czech Republic and Alabama. Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series that brings further artistic diversity to the UA campus and invites creative exchange between music professionals, students, and the greater community through public performances and class visits by world-class performers of adventurous music.

The 2012-13 season begins on September 28 with Vox Arcana and continues on October 17 with the Gebhard Ullman / Steve Swell Quartet.  All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus.  For more information call 205.348.9928 or visithttp://creativecampus.ua.edu/project/sonic-frontiers

OPENING EVENT – TIM DAISY’S VOX ARCANA
Friday, September 28, 2012, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music – Moody Music Building Recital Hall
Free Admission

photo credit: David Sampson

Tim Daisy’s Vox Arcana trio will perform at the University on Friday, September 28th at 7:30 pm in UA’s School of Music Recital Hall. The Chicago-based trio is led by percussionist/ composer Tim Daisy and includes James Falzone on clarinet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics. These internationally-acclaimed musicians have worked with an extraordinary range of artists, including legendary American minimalist composer Morton Feldman, Chicago avant-jazz icon Ken Vandermark, and the alt-rock band Wilco.

The group’s off-kilter instrumentation contrasts soaring, lyrical clarinet melodies with pleasantly burbling marimba figures and spiky electronic textures. The result is a lilting, gently swinging combination of contemporary chamber music and improvised music.

Daisy formed Vox Arcana in the spring of 2008 “as an outlet for my compositions that explore the dynamic between written thematic material and open improvisation and how the juxtaposition of these two elements influences the overall character of a piece.” The group’s 2010 release, Aerial Age, was called “smartly conceived and perfectly executed” by the Chicago Jazz Music Examiner. The trio is touring in support of their third release, Soft Focus.

FALL 2012 SONIC FRONTIERS CONCERT SERIES SCHEDULE

Friday, September 28, 2012, UA School of Music – Moody Recital Hall at 7:30 pm
Tim Daisy’s “Vox Arcana” trio from Chicago.
Audio preview: “The Silver Fence”: http://www.allosmusica.org/Downloads/Silver.mp3

Wednesday, October 17, UA School of Music – Moody Recital Hall at 7:30 pm
Ullman/Swell Quartet featuring Gebhard Ullman (reeds, Germany), Steve Swell (trombone, NYC), Barry Altschul (drums, NYC), Hill Greene (bass, NYC).
Video preview: “Planet Hopping…” by Steve Swell, http://youtu.be/NPhQiMzNMpA

SPRING 2013 PREVIEW

January 2013 George Cremaschi – Bassist and composer visiting from the Czech Republic.

February 2013 Raudelunas Revival – A one-night-only revival performance by Raudelunas, a legendary radical 1970s Tuscaloosa intermedia arts collective, in celebration of a retrospective exhibition in the Ferguson Student Center Gallery,  featuring violist LaDonna Smith, guitarist Davey Williams and harpist/composer Anne LeBaron.

February 25, 2013 Tim Feeney, Nick Hennies and Greg Stuart percussion trio – New UA percussion professor Dr. Tim Feeney joins Nick Hennies (Austin, TX) and Greg Stuart (Columbia, SC) to perform improvised music for percussion and electronics.

March 2013 Holland Hopson, Justin Peake – Recent Tuscaloosa transplant Holland Hopson merges traditional Appalachian banjo with live electronics, plus music for percussion and electronics by Tuscaloosa native and New Orleans-based musician/composer Justin Peake.

April 8, 2013 UA Percussion Ensemble performs Brooklyn, NY-based composer Aaron Siegel’s composition Science is Only a Sometimes Friend for eight glockenspiels with audience participation in a special outdoor event.

ABOUT SONIC FRONTIERS
Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s very own adventurous music series, Sonic Frontiers premiered in spring 2012, building on a number of successful experimental music events organized in the area since 2008 by series founder and artistic director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a composer/musician and assistant professor in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama. The 2011-2012 season included five events ranging from Nii Noi Nortey, a Ghanaian saxophonist and instrument inventor to Mr. Bungle and Melvins bassist Trevor Dunn’s NYC-based avant-jazz quartet, Endangered Blood.

ABOUT CREATIVE CAMPUS
Under the auspices of UA’s Office of Academic Affairs, The Creative Campus is a collaborative system connecting students, faculty, and community to nurture innovative thinkers who turn ideas into action. Creative Campus seeks to serve as a hub of collaboration and creative activity at The University of Alabama. At the heart of Creative Campus is the undergraduate and graduate intern program.  For more information on Creative Campus visit: http://www.creativecampus.ua.edu

The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is experiencing significant growth in both enrollment and academic quality. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state’s economy, is in keeping with UA’s vision to be the university of Choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state’s flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.