Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho is acclaimed worldwide for her refined musical explorations and unique blending of coloristic textures and expression. This program presents some of the many facets of her chamber music through a variety of pieces, some involving visuals designed by composer and multimedia artist Jean-Baptiste Barrière.

The program covers more than 30 years of her music, with the earliest From the Grammar of Dreams for two sopranos, on poems by Sylvia Plath, and the most recent “Frises”, for violin and electronics. It includes intimate Nocturne for violin, as well as Ballade and Prelude for piano, and some of her famous works with electronics: Lonh for soprano, on a text by medieval troubadour Jaufré Rudel; Noa Noa for flute; and 6 Japanese Gardens for percussion.

Special guests include Aliisa Neige Barrière (violin), Gloria Cheng (piano), Camilla Hoitenga (flute), Nikolaus Keelaghan (percussion), Movses Pogossian (violin), Terri Richter (soprano) and Jean-Baptiste Barrière (electronics, video).

Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as part of BEYOND MUSIC: Composition and Performance in the Age of Augmented Reality through the UCLA Arts Initiative.

Other BEYOND MUSIC activities include the following events. All are free and open to the public.

Bridging Music + Visual Art
Sat Nov 7 at 3 pm
Broad Arts Center, UCLA Campus

Keynote address from UCLA Design Media Arts professor Erkki Huhtamo followed by panel discussion featuring media artist Refik Anadol, media artist and composer Jean-Baptiste Barrière, interface designer Miller Puckette, video artists Candace Reckinger & Michael Patterson, composer Kaija Saariaho and moderator Robert Winter from UCLA Department of Music.

Immediately following the panel is a presentation from video artist Bill Viola and screening of the 1994 concert film Déserts, which was designed to accompany a live performance of the music of Edgard Varèse.

Erik Satie, Vexations for piano
Sat Nov 7 at 10pm
Ostin Ensemble Room, Schoenberg Music Building

All-night Music + Visual Media performance featuring visual media by Refik Anadol and 108 repetitions of Satie’s Vexations performed by UCLA school of music faculty and students.

Music + Visual Media Performance
Sun Nov 8 at 5:30 pm
Experimental Digital Arts space (EDA), Broad Art Center
Visual media by Candace Reckinger and Michael Patterson

PROGRAM
Lou Harrison, “Passage Through Darkness,” from Tributes to Charon (1939/1982), for percussion trio
J.S. Bach, Partita No. 3: Preludio, for violin
Tristan Perich, qsqsqsqsqqqqqqqqq (2009), for 3 toy pianos + 3-channel 1-bit tones
J.S. Bach, Suite No. 2: Sarabande, for cello
Gene Koshinsky, " And So The Wind Blew…" (2009), for percussion duo

Performed by UCLA Department of Music students Alexa Constantine, Anna Corcoran, Thomas Feng, Gary Heaton-Smith, Mariam Kaddoura, Dante Luna, and Charles Tyler