This piece is composed for four musicians playing two networked "reacTables", one each in Barcelona and in Linz, Austria. The reacTable is a new electronic music instrument developed at the Music Technology Group in Barcelona by a research team headed by Sergi Jorda. Brown explains: 'I have interfaced my own synthesis engine, written in SuperCollider3, to the reacTable's visual and gestural interface, thus composing my own synthesis environment with its own rhythmic and tonal character. Like the other works in my "Inventions" series (recorded on Pogus CD "Talking Drum"), this piece involves polyrhythms, computer networks, and improvisation. Like "Invention #5" (1999), it also involves musicians collaborating at great physical distance from each other'.

Chris Brown

Chris Brown, composer, pianist, and electronic musician, creates music for acoustic instruments with interactive electronics, for computer networks, and for improvising ensembles. Recent recordings of his music are available on Tzadik, "ROGUE WAVE" (2005) and "LAVA" (1992); and on Pogus, "TALKING DRUM" (2001). He has also performed and recorded extensively with "The Hub", "Room", and the "Glenn Spearman Double Trio". As a pianist he has recorded music by Henry Cowell, Luc Ferrari, and John Coltrane; as an electronic musician, he has collaborated with John Zorn and Wadada Leo Smith. He teaches electronic music at Mills College in Oakland, where he is Co-Director of the Center for Contemporary Music (CCM).

http://www.cbmuse.com/

frelia by Ali Momeni and Robin Mandel

This installation, a collaboration with sculptor Robin Mandel, explores two ideas: a communal musical instrument played by bodily gesture, and a force applied from a distance. The work is inspired by the pantograph, an acient tool that can enlarge or reduce a gesture with mechanical means. The pantograph is used to translate gestures across a barrier. These gestures are then translated to sound using real-time generative software.

Ali Momeni

Ali Momeni was born in Isfahan, Iran. His interests are in the area of art and technology in musical and installation works. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in California, where he completed his gratuade work at Center for New Music and Audio Technologies under the guidance of David Wessel and Edmund Campion. He currently lives and works in Paris, France.

http://cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu/~ali/

Robin Mandel

Robin Mandel lived his early life in the midwestern United States, with blonde curly hair. Now his hair is brown, although where this indicates he should live remains a mystery. He has studied at Swarthmore College, Harvard University, Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy, and the Rhode Island School of Design. His sculptural work ranges from static constructions to kinetics to interactive installations, in a wide variety of materials; his online portfolio can be viewed at his website. He is very excited about his contribution to ICMC 2005, the first of many fruitful collaborations planned with artist and composer Ali Momeni.

http://www.robinmandel.net