The world premiere of 鈥淐antos,鈥� an ambitious multimedia work by New York State composer Rob Deemer, is part of the next installment of 黑料不打烊 Symposium, whose theme this year is 鈥淢emory-Media-Archive.鈥� The premiere is part of a program titled 鈥淎ural Auras and Their Reflections: A Sound/Image Dialogue,鈥� taking place Sunday, Oct. 28, at 4 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel on the 黑料不打烊 campus. The concert is free and open to the public, and is followed by a reception. For more information, call 315-443-5708, or visit syracusehumanities.org.
鈥淎ural Auras and Their Reflections鈥� is organized and presented by the SU Humanities Center for and the campus community. It is co-sponsored by the Society for New Music (SNM), a 黑料不打烊-based national composer service organization that is celebrating its 41st season.
鈥淥ur concerts with the Society of New Music have become something of a fall tradition on campus,鈥� says Gregg Lambert, Dean鈥檚 Professor of the Humanities and founding director of the SU Humanities Center. 鈥淭his event is particularly exciting because it uses the changing concept of film music to illustrate the possibilities of humanistic inquiry. It also showcases original music by several outstanding regional composers.鈥�
Adds SNM founder Neva Pilgrim: 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost impossible to think about the digital humanities, not to mention the public humanities, without considering film and video music. We鈥檝e assembled a first-rate group of musicians whose art reflects the general culture of our time.鈥�
Commissioned by SNM, 鈥淐antos鈥� reminds Deemer of how film scoring techniques may fit within a composer鈥檚 toolbox. 鈥淢embers of our own audience, including potential composers, [have] grown up with film and video game music,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t only makes sense, then, to look at these fields not as curiosities and targets for scorn, but also as genres rich with tradition and techniques that could easily be incorporated into a contemporary composers鈥� palette.鈥� Deemer is assistant professor of music and head of composition at SUNY Fredonia.
Also an accomplished composer and conductor, Deemer first came to national attention in 1993, when he was named the college winner of the DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award for 鈥淏est Extended Composition.鈥� Since then, his career has taken him all over the world, from jazz clubs in Chicago to stage shows on a Caribbean cruise liner, to Hollywood scoring studios.聽His music has also been performed at the Cannes International Film Festival (France); various Directors Guild of America conferences in New York and Los Angeles; the San Francisco Latino Film Festival; and at film festivals throughout North America and Africa.
Demmer is also co-author of 鈥淗earing the Movies: Music and Sound in Film鈥� (Oxford University Press, 2009) and creator of the nationally syndicated radio program 鈥淭he Composer Next Door.鈥�
For 鈥淐antos,鈥� Deemer has teamed up with Courtney Rile 鈥�04, an accomplished videographer and co-founder of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Daylight Blue Media Group. 鈥淭he video for this project will focus on the nature of musical instruments, and will further the work by incorporating a live performative element,鈥� she says.
The Oct. 28 program includes the following:
Conducted by Cynthia Johnston Turner, the performers include VPA faculty members Kenneth Meyer, guitar; Steven Heyman and Adrienne Kim, piano; Gregory Wood G鈥�05, cello; and Edward Castilano ’03, double bass. Rounding out the ensemble are Ann McIntyre 鈥�96 and Sonya Williams, violin; Kitt Dodd, viola; Kelly Covert, flute; John Friedrichs, clarinet; Ralph Dudgeon, trumpet; Dave DiGennaro ’90, trombone; and Rob Bridge, percussion.
