World-renown guests artists and composers at ASU in the spring
Folk Musician Mike Seeger Visited ASU
The ASU Herberger College School of Music welcomed Mike Seeger, one of American’s premier traditional folk-music artists, who performed songs from his album, Music From True Vine, on April 18.
Interest in traditional folk music is increasing both on campus and in the community. Seeger’s research in Southern Appalachian folk traditions has positioned him as one of the leading performers and scholars of this music. This traditional folk music grows out of hundreds of years of British and African musical traditions to produce songs and sounds that are unique to the U.S. This music is the roots of today's country, bluegrass and popular music.
“His performances include a wide variety of styles including blues, traditional ballads, and bluegrass breakdowns, and represent the music that was created by common people for their own enjoyment.” says Karen Bryan, associate director of undergraduate studies in the Herberger College School of Music.
Seeger plays a wide variety of traditional styles and an array of instruments, including banjo, fiddle, guitar, trump (jaw harp), mouth harp (harmonica), quills, lap dulcimer, mandolin and Autoharp. Like earlier old-time musicians, Seeger seeks out his own vision of the music, making the music uniquely his own.
Alaska Composer John Luther Adams comes for Week-long Residency
John Luther Adams, Alaskan composer, visited ASU for a week-long residency April 25-27, 2007.
Sabine Feisst co-organized a week-long residency of Alaska composer John Luther Adams featuring two concerts, roundtables, a sound installation at the ASU Art Museum, a meet-the-composer event, an exhibit in the music library and a Hayden Library Channel podcast. As part of the residency, the ASU Music Library displayed scores, writings and CDs by John Luther Adams. The exhibition was sponsored by the Herberger College School of Music and the ASU Art Museum.
In cooperation with the ASU Art Museum, the School of Music presented the sound installation, Veils, April 25-27. Veils are composed from long layered strands of pink noise passed through several harmonic prisms. Veils fill time and space with enveloping atmospheres of colored sound. This is an electronic composition which does not involve performers and was heard in the Nelson Fine Arts Center entry way.
A concert by the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble, directed by Glenn Hackbarth, was devoted to the music of John Luther Adams. Adams’ music for orchestra, small ensembles, percussion and electronic media has been widely performed and recorded by prominent musicians. The composer has created a unique musical world grounded in the Northern wilderness landscapes and indigenous cultures, and in natural phenomena from the songs of birds to elemental noise of crashing glaciers.
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