house/ambient improv inspired by the vibrancy and creative energy of durham, nc featuring samples from mary lou williams and andrè leon talley

themostamazingthing

desert
— noun
a waterless, desolate area of land commonly confused with pudding

Desert

A second brief excerpt -- this one featuring one of the otherworldly countertenor "interventions" sung by Luc-Emmanuel Betton -- of the guitar concerto I wrote for my longtime friend, French guitarist Jérémy Jouve & the Listen Ensemble. Premiered in France in May 2015, "L'Imitation du sommeil" ("The Imitation of Sleep") was inspired by a short text by the surrealist Gaston Dehoy, in which a sleeper invents dream after dream to protect him from the sun in a "shadowless country." The music is therefore an hour-long series of dreams in which the soloist, Jérémy, is the principal dreamer, whose dreams are accompanied and shared by the Listen Ensemble. Instead of a paper score and parts, the entire piece is controlled by a generative system I made in MaxMSP, which tells the performers what to play (and when), and ensures that each performance will be different. This recording was made during the second performance on 13 December 2015 at Les Passerelles in Pontault-Combault, France.

L'Imitation du sommeil (excerpt 2)

Conrad Tao - piano

In 2004, European Space Agency launched a space probe called Rosetta on a mission to land and perform
a study of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. "Philae" was the name of its lander module. On 12
November 2014, “Philae” performed the first ever landing on a comet. Following the landing, which was a momentous event, the module got stuck in a ditch and all communications were cut off after a brief exchange of data. Months later there was a re-connection. “Philae” is still on the comet, studying data. This amazing human achievement inspired me to write a piece which marvels at the struggles, maneuvers and the loneliness of this little lander module.


Philae (2015)

Ordinary Things (2015-2016) - Eren Gumrukcuoglu. 

Performed by Deviant Septet:

Caleb Burhans - Violin
Doug Balliett - Double Bass
Bill Kalinkos - Clarinet
Brad Balliett - Bassoon
Mike Gurfield - Trumpet
Matthew Melore - Trombone
Jared Soldiviero - Percussion
&
Electronics

Recording Engineer: Richard Nelson
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Recorded live on March 11, 2016 at Baldwin Auditorium in Durham, NC.

Ordinary Things (2016)

Listen on Spotify: http://bit.ly/SoundAsleepHdor

Sound Asleep

Conrad Tao, piano // Tyshawn Sorey, percussion

Performed live at the Park Avenue Armory Veterans Room as part of Jason Moran's Artists Studio series.
May 20, 2016.

Schoenberg: Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23 (with Tyshawn Sorey)

Elliott Carter: Caténaires (with Tyshawn Sorey)

Summit Music Machine Sample

Composer of acoustic & electronic music.  Sometimes I combine the two.  Also music faculty & co-director of The Emergence Lab at Duke University.

L'Imitation du sommeil (excerpt 2)

John Supko