Performed by West Fox 03/01/2021

Sliding Focus is a miniature that consists of three fairly open processes. Because of this, the electronics use rhythmic information of scheduled events that are derived from previous materials recorded in the electronics. The electronics are designed to further smear the already resonant bells that creates a wash of sound within listeners can simply bask. This piece was commissioned by Ben Damann as a part of his "Snippets" commissioning project.

Sliding Focus

Music and Electronics by Christopher Poovey
Text by Bea Goodwin

Soprano: Júlia Coelho, Tenor: J. Andrew Smith, Flutes: Anne Dearth, Clarinet: Brooke Miller, Viola: Amanda Hamilton, Bass: Connor Simmons, Conductor: Garrison Gerard

Songs from Vessels: Spellbook in the House of Hearts is a collection of songs from my VR micro-opera cycle Vessels. Each song is a kind of evocative painting, intertwining technology with the sensual, the poetic, and the eerie. 
The first two spells, Spells 37 and 25, depict a gramophone with a spider at its base and a snake as the speaker. Interactive electronics reacting to timbre and amplitude emphasize stark and unsettling sounds from the tenor, stressing the sinister and foreboding quality of the spider. The snake, meanwhile, floats ethereally through a dynamic mesh functioning as reverb and chorus, blurring the lines between the two like smoke drifting through an empty bar. 
Spell 76 evokes a pen cascading a river of ink representing the flow of ideas; granular sampling pulls ideas from the beginning in a current flowing through the end, pulling fragmented memories of the instrumental timbres into the present and stirring them into both real and synthetic water sounds. This emphasizes the friction of writing as a creative process that stems the tide of the artist’s ideas into a crystalline entity- an imperfect and beautiful distillation represented by the frozen timbres of the voice, flute, and viola. 
Spell 14 is a look into a mutoscope, a machine playing a short, “scandalous” film that frames a dancing woman as an object of desire. This song frees the woman, contrasting the mechanical and cold nature of the mutoscope with the woman’s own desire and longing for something real.

Songs From Vessels

This is a headphone mix for a 3D audio piece, so please use headphones if you have them! 
Meticulously handcrafted ornamental items made with exquisite craftsmanship are considered objects of vertu. While creating Inside a Mirage of Vertu, I have been weighing consequences of generative art forms, with more focus on those that rely on artificial intelligence, and I have been trying to come to terms with how this kind of art will transform artists' craft. Inside a Mirage of Vertu does not use an AI in its production, but does use automated processes for spatialization like ambisonic granulation which generate 3D gestures and soundscapes. These soundscapes represent the surreal image of a musical singing bird box, a rather iconic object of vertu, but the piece places you inside a mirage – an apparition manufactured to exist in the world as if it were real.

Inside A Mirage Of Vertu (Binaural Mix)

Dripstone (2015)

Libretto by Jessica Schroeder 

Performed by Jacobs School of Music New Music Ensemble

Andrew Richardson, Gregor 
Annie Chester, Onlooker

Robin Meiksins, Flute
Wai Ki Wun, Clarinet 
Mitchell Beck, Percussion
Lauren Teel, Percussion
Peggy Houng, Harp
Noah Sonderling, Piano
Eliot Heaton, Violin
Will Rowe, Cello
Sam Loeck,Bass
Joseph Štepec, Conductor 

Metamorphosis Act One Scene One (2016)

Recorded 11/23/16 at University of North Texas

For oboe, bass clarinet and 8 channel live electronics

Oboe- Jonathan Thompson
Bass Clarinet- Ryan Espinosa

2 Strands- Stereo Mixdown (2016)

Bass- Josh Lambert
Recording Engineer- Mark Vaughn
Electronics- Christopher Poovey

'only through fractures may light shine' explores the gritty sounds of the double bass through the use of string multiphonics, overpressure, and bowing behind the bridge and tail piece. The electronics in the piece augment the bass’s capabilities further by emphasizing the inharmonic, crunchy, and wispy sounds that are not idiomatic of the bass.  Together, both parts of 'only through fractures' create an experience where sounds are put into new contexts in order to find beauty in what may normally be considered noise.  'only through fractures' was started at the Atlantic Center of the Arts in New Smyrna Beach Florida and I thank the Atlantic Center for the wonderful residency.

only through fractures may light shine (2017)

Performed 4/22/19 in UNT Voertman Hall

Hannah Bronson, flute
Jonathan Thompson, oboe
Erin Cameron, clarinet 
Justin Sales, alto saxophone
Alex Meaux, bassoon
Walter Trapp, B-flat trumpet
Cade Leinbach, horn
Julie Gray, trombone
Amy Hiller, violin
Diana Ramirez-Rosales, violin
Kathleen Crabtree, viola 
Kourtney Newton, cello 
Jonathon Piccolo, double bass
Kohei Sakai, percussion
Mai Mizuno, piano
Garrison Gerard, conductor

Three Miniatures

Cybernetic Overload

Eliza Polly Smith- Voice
Nick Bolchoz- percussion

Christopher Poovey- Music, Electronics, Recording, Mixing
Bea Goodwin - Text
-----
winter 1994 : text by Bea Goodwin
inspired by Louise Bourgeois Insomnia drawings & “I Give Everything Away”

i.
Shhhh…

Go to sleep.
	
							heavy eyes & heavy heart, Louise .
	Shhhhh…
							Is it over?
		(gasp!)
								or is it nearing?

		
Sleeeeeep.
				“ I CAN’T ! ”
		
ii.
“i give everything away”

i bleed my pen 
until i’m dry.
outside; I’m wet.
i don’t know why

but all this ink
creates a deluge of the way things used to be
							  nostalgie——— 
							  de —
							  la ——
							  boue ——

spider veins /
							/   “ Maman ! ”
surge sullen thoughts.  
those walls are sorry,
weak
& 
wrought.

oh how I distance myself from / 
							/ myself
that river (is)
							/ (is) what I love most
dripping divinity 
amidst the salinity…
of tears.

		<drip>
		<drip>
		<drip>
		<drip!>
		<drip>
		<drip>


iii.
					the pages of the final chapter of my life are wet
					outside, I’m dry.
					i don’t know why.

					I leave…

I go..
					Sleep…

My home.
My nest.


“i am packing my bags”

					Shhhhhhh…
					
Louise?

Winter 1994

Written Summer 2020

Forged Effervescence is an exploration of synthesized metals created to showcase my modal synthesis VST Bellforge. The piece develops on the ideas of envelope shape, resonance, and inharmonic timbre through the transformation and juxtaposition of a large pool of sound sources created entirely through modal synthesis.

Forged Effervescence

Hi-Hat, West Fox

For the best experience, please listen with headphones.

Within Waves is piece for hi-hat and live immersive electronics.  Sound from the hi-hat drives a large multi channel waveguide mesh that is encoded to an ambisonic signal to envelop the audience in both subtle and dramatic spatial gestures generated by processing the hi-hat's input into the waveguide mesh.

Within Waves

Christopher Poovey is a composer, media artist, and creative coder who creates music and software which produce rich and colorful sound and encourages interactive structures. Christopher’s compositions have been performed by Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble Mise-en, University of North Texas’s Nova Ensemble, Indiana University’s New Music Ensemble, and Indiana University’s Brass Choir.  Chris was a finalist for the 2021 International Confederation of Electroacoustic Grand Prix and has received a special mention from the 2021 Ars Electronica Forum Wallis. His work has also been selected for performance at conferences such as the International Computer Music Conference, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music General Assembly, New York Electronic Music Festival, Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States National Conference, Inner SoundScapes, National Student Electronic Music Event, Electronic Music Midwest, and MoxSonic.
Chris currently teaches at Oberlin Conservatory in TIMARA. He holds a PhD and MA in composition from the University or North Texas and a BM in composition from Indiana University.  To supplement his formal studies, Christopher has taken courses at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique, at Princeton University for the Só Percussion Summer Institute, and has attended a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Christopher Poovey

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