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Home › News & Events › Events › “LOST in COLORS” Multimedia Concert – Kay He, composer, piano

“LOST in COLORS” Multimedia Concert – Kay He, composer, piano

Composition, Faculty Artists, Guest Artists, Keyboard Wednesday February 12, 2020 - 7:30p.m. to 9:30p.m.

Venue: Fred Fox School of Music, Crowder Hall

“Lost in Colors” – Kay He, composer, piano
Edward Goodman, saxophone; Jackie Glazier, clarinet
Cecilia Cristina Palma, cello; Daniel Linder, piano
Faculty, Guest
February 12, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
Crowder Hall, $Free

The Fred Fox School of Music welcomes Yuanyuan (Kay) He to the faculty. Dr. He is an award-winning composer and video artist with roots in China. Her works often explore and intertwine various forms of media to create unique audiovisual experiences that engage the audience and involve collaborations with choreographers, dancers, video artists, audio technicians and stage lighting and design artists. At the University of Arizona, she teaches composition, electro-acoustic music and orchestration.

 

PROGRAM

On the Excenter of a Blind Spot (2016)

Yuanyuan (Kay) HE, piano

 

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Crispy (2017)

Edward Goodman, alto saxophone

Daniel Linder, piano

 

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On the Threshold of a Drizzly Reality (2013)

Cecilia C. Palma, cello

 

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On the Arch of a Monochrome Rainbow (2016)

Jackie Glazier, clarinet

 

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Love YOU … niverse (2015)

Audiovisual fixed media

 

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LOST in COLORS (2020)

Daniel Linder, piano

 

***

 

HEAT it UP! (2019)

Jackie Glazier, clarinet

Yuanyuan (Kay) HE, piano

 

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Please join us for a reception in the Green Room following the performance.

 

Program notes:

“On the Excenter of a Blind Spot,” for Piano and electronics, was inspired by the famous children’s book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The story tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. It seems like a simple fairy tale, but it goes much deeper than that. Carroll describes a struggle with self-identity in a very controlled existence, which is conducted by a series of bizarre events. Feeling lost becomes a recurring theme in the book as Alice regularly expresses uncertainty about who she is after she enters Wonderland.

In my piece, the piano, electronic music, and video all become increasingly more distorted until they collapse. The scene becomes a hallucination. In Alice’s story, she discovers the world through uncertainty and self-questioning. Her whole world is based on an experience of hallucination. Hallucination is a mental disorder in some traditional conceptions, but hallucination also often reflects the nature of the mind, perception and our knowledge of the world. How do we perceive the world? Is it an existence of a series of hallucinations?

 

“On the Threshold of a Drizzly Reality” for cello and electronics is dedicated to cellist Nora Karakousoglou. The piece attempts to describe a mixed world of both my ideals and the stone-cold realities of my life. Everyone and everything enters my life for a certain reason, and at a certain time. This piece, too, came into my life with a purpose. It is a soul-searching piece for me. It describes the powerful emotion of my beautiful mind and imagination, and also reveals the various hard aspects of the reality that intrude on my life all the time. Perspective – drowning in illusion or dancing on the threshold of the reality.

The cellist is on the stage alone, which is the reality of how I individually exist in this world. The electronics, based on pre-recorded sounds of the cello, are the illusion. Processed cello reveals a mysterious world, which sings simultaneously with the live cello. They are tangled with each other. The audience is unable to distinguish what is real and what is the “illusion”. In the middle rhythmic section, the repeating notes travel through stage and surrounding speakers. The effect represents how fantasy and reality seem so interfused sometimes. On stage mic’d cello with reverberation is used to present a spatial-temporal variation of reality.

 

I wrote “Crispy,” which is for cello and piano, this past summer (2017) while I was away from Austin. For Chinese composers, our musical roots do not include Jazz. I am not familiar with Jazz in any way. However, during the summer of 2017, I started to listen to Jazz-style music and I became fascinated with the driven rhythm and passion of the music and musicians. Even though I had no background or experience with Jazz, it was the time I had to look at myself and say “why not?” So, that is where Crispy came to be. Let me know if it’s jazzy enough for you.

 

“On the Arch of a Monochrome Rainbow” for clarinet and cello was inspired by Nancy Rubins’ sculpture “Monochrome,” which is displayed on the UT Austin campus. “Monochrome” stands nearly 50 feet high and stretches across 24th Street. It comprises around 75 Kayaks, canoes, and small boats, arranged together to form a giant silver tree, and has become a significant landmark in Austin, TX. “Monochrome” develops a sense of mass and scale that is accompanied with true grace. Balance becomes the main theme of the sculpture. The premiere of this piece will be in the area of the sculpture. The clarinetist stands under the canopy of “Monochrome,” where a bouquet of aluminum canoes and boats blossoms over a busy pedestrian intersection on the University of Texas campus.

The sculpture accompanies the tall trees on the sidewalk, mixing with nature. There are many extended techniques I use for clarinet solo, such as large-scale glissando, bending tone, multiphonic techniques, etc. These create a very interesting sound palette, which become the source of the electronic sound. Sometimes it’s gentle and beautiful, sometimes it’s odd and harsh, sometimes it’s aggressive and overwhelming, sometimes it’s colorful and joyful, just like nature. How do we keep the balance in the world to continue to live along with nature? How do we enjoy the different shades of nature, and be part of it? It just like dancing on the arch of a monochrome rainbow. It’s overwhelming and also joyful.

 

“LOST in COLORS” for piano and Kyma sound system is commissioned by pianist Daniel Linder. Colors and emotions have a very intimate relationship. The way different colors can affect emotions depends largely on a color’s brightness, shade, tone, temperature, and saturation. Colors can make us feel excited and satisfied, they can also make us feel anxious and agitated. Just like people who came in my life, they all brought distinctive colors into my life journey. The world is a beautiful place, but it is the people in one’s life to make it colorful. I am grateful for everyone who has painted on my life canvas. Let’s get LOST in COLORS.

 

The piece, “Love YOU … niverse” written for UT Austin CAET Launch attempts to describe a hidden love story from one of my dreams.

“I see my entire body as a brilliant and luminous object, which is radiating with love and gratitude. The energy of this love is filling all cells of my physical body, and lighting up every corner of my mind. I feel the undeniably strong connection towards to you, and then, this shinning connection destroyed my world. My world collapses with yours. Born into the nova in the Love You … niverse. ”

In the piece, atmosphere ambient music combines with astronomic video to reveal the love universe, which is sentimental, unreal, and full of adventures, creativities and conflicts.

 

“HEAT it UP!” for clarinet, piano, and electronics, was commissioned by clarinetist Jackie Glazier. Last summer (2018), I moved from Austin, TX to Tucson, AZ. Both cities’ summer can be extremely hot, but in different ways. While Austin tends to be humid and sticky, Tucson is much hotter and drier with periodic monsoon rains. While Austin is mostly flat with some rolling hills around its edges, Tucson is a desert oasis surrounded by rugged mountains where saguaro cacti thrive, which creates that signature southwestern vibe. While dry and dusty, since coming to Tucson, the beauty of Sonoran Desert has truly inspired me in many ways.

I often thought brownish yellow was the only color in the desert, but I have been surprised by the Sonoran Desert’s rich color palette. It has a burning pink sunset over the mountains, the purple Milky Way framed by gigantic pine trees on Mt. Lemmon, creosote bushes with their bright yellow flowers emit the “smell of the rain,” and the rich blue sky is decorated by high definition monsoon storm clouds. All the colors become hotter and brighter under the scorching sun. Immerse yourself in these inspiring colors and let the desert HEAT UP your imagination.

***

 

Dr. Yuanyuan (Kay) He is a composer and video artist with roots in China. Her works often explore and intertwine various forms of media to create unique audiovisual experiences that engage the audience. Many of her works involve collaborations with choreographers, dancers, video artists, audio technicians, and stage lighting and design artists. As a multimedia composer, she is very active in the music community. Kay serves as the Creative Director for Electronic Music Midwest (EMM), which is an annual music festival dedicated to programming a wide variety of electroacoustic music and providing high quality electronic media performances. She is also the founder and Director of the Turn Up Multimedia Festival, which works to promote Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Culture-Connecting, and Equality. She is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, where she teaches composition, electro-acoustic music, and orchestration.

During her career, Kay has won many awards and been selected for many performances in the U.S. and abroad.  Of note, her piano trio Imprint of the Spring Breeze ​won the grand prize at the 2nd ACC International Composition Competition (Gwangju, South Korea).  ISCM selected the flute and electronics piece On the Pivot of an Abandoned Carousel for 2016 World Music Days (Tongyeong, South Korea).  Passeig de Grácia for orchestra was selected for ACO Underwood New Music Readings (New York, NY).  On the Threshold of a Drizzly Reality for cello and electronics was selected for performances at the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in Athens, Greece and the Root Signals music festival (Jacksonville, Florida).  Shadow of Dewdrops was selected as a finalist for TICF (Bangkok, Thailand) and the installment of Gamma UT (Austin, TX).  Legends of Old Peking won Seattle Symphony Celebrate Asia Composition Competition.  Dying Away won the DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition (Cortona, Italy).  And, Destiny of Sputnik was chosen for Beijing Modern Music Festival Young Composers Project.

Kay earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and her Master of Music degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied under Dr. Russell Pinkston and Dr. Yevgeniy Sharlat.

 

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
1 week ago
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Congratulations to faculty member Dr. José Luis Puerta and alumnus Alfredo Vázquez on the release of their new album "Appunti" under the Seville-based Contrastes Records. The album was recorded at the Haskell Recording Studio at the University of Arizona School of Music by Wiley Ross. The debut CD Of the Puerta-Vázquez Duo is a monographic work of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The album includes pieces that were dedicated or made famous by Duo Presti Lagoya, Sonatina Canonica, and Fuga Elegiaca. The latter one was dedicated to them posthumously. The album also presents a unique interpretation of Appunti Op. 210. A setting for two guitars by the late David Grimes, who made this with Tedesco’s approval. The CD release concert will take place as part of the Faculty Artist Series on October 22, 7:00 PM, Holsclaw Hall.

The album is available for purchase as well as streaming on all platforms.

For more information about the duo please visit

video link:

Jose Luis Puerta
Alfredo Vazquez
Contrastes Records
#HaskellRecordingStudio
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Felicidades 🎊🎉🎈

Muchas felicidades y bendiciones !!!! Siempre has sido un honesto luchador y vencedor. !!!

It’s a wonderful recording!

Congratulations!

¡FELICITACIONES!

Felicidades José Luis! Excelente Dúo!

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
2 weeks ago
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Fred Fox Graduate Wind Quintet
Festival Musica Malicorne Farewell Concert
Cassandra Gunn – Flute
Gabriella Beltran – Oboe
Cristian Barazal – Clarinet
Caitlynn Sandberg – Horn
Matthew Dutczak – Bassoon
Friday June 24, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.
Holsclaw Hall & Facebook Live
Livestream:

$Free Admission

As the Fred Fox Graduate Wind Quintet prepares to travel to attend the Festival Musica Malicorne in Le Mans, France, they would like to invite you to a farewell concert on Friday June 24, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. in Holsclaw Hall and via livestream on Facebook and Instagram. The performance will feature a reduction of Georges Bizet’s opera, “Carmen” and other traditional French and American repertoire.

The students have a go-fund-me to assist with travel expenses:
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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
2 months ago
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Interview Lisandro Acosta, Distinguished Master's Student

***

The Fred Fox School of Music 2022 Scholarship drive ends today! Thank you for joining us for our shared belief in our young artists and scholars, and for the love of music.

If you want to make a gift, the crowdfunding will close at midnight!


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What the world needs now is more love and more music! And the Fred Fox School of Music needs your financial support. Your tax-deductible gift helps to provide the financial support that our talented, visionary young musicians need in order to thrive, create and innovate at the Fred Fox School of Music.

The Fred Fox School of Music is a place of discovery, growth and of musical excellence. The generous support of our loyal patrons, alumni and friends is crucial to serving our bold mission and supporting our wonderful students. This month-long fundraising event features student performances, stories and powerful testimonies to the transformational power of scholarship gifts.

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
2 months ago
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Last day to give:

Any gift can make a difference!
Thank you for your support of our talented students!

....

$25: Your gift contributes towards students' application fees for Young Artist and other music competitions

$100: Your gift contributes towards students' conference fees for professional development

$250: Your gift helps to support student travel for professional presentations and performances at conferences

$500: Your gift provides the award for the concerto winners who perform at the Presidents Concert

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
2 months ago
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Thank you for your support of students like Benjamin!

Double your impact during our donation matching challenge through May 15th!

Interview with Benjamin Patrick Skoronski, Distinguished Graduate Student Award winner, PhD student in musicology.

Thanks to a group of four generous donors, all gifts for To Music with Love will be matched dollar for dollar up to $5,000 until May 15, 2022. Please make your gift today and double your impact on our amazing students!

What the world needs now is more love and more music! And the Fred Fox School of Music needs your financial support. Your tax-deductible gift helps to provide the financial support that our talented, visionary young musicians need in order to thrive, create and innovate at the Fred Fox School of Music.
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Thanks so much for the recognition! Would you be able to repost with the correct spelling of my name ("Skoronski" rather than "Skoranski")?

👏👏👏👏👏

Congratulations 🎊

Congratulations to Ben.

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
2 months ago
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

JustArts Fellowship for Student Leaders in the Arts

The program was created in collaboration with students serving on the Arizona Arts Diversity and Inclusion Committee, including Seoyeon Kim, Cat Cogliandro, Arianna Aquino, and Lynn Robinson. I am excited that it is now ready to launch with generous funding made possible through philanthropic support.

This unique opportunity invites students to design and complete a change-oriented project that increases student access to meaningful arts experiences. Fellows identify challenges, generate creative solutions, and collaborate with student peers and Arizona Arts mentors to bring a more just vision of the arts to life.

To be eligible for the Fellowship, students must be degree-seeking undergraduate or graduate students in UArizona's College of Fine Arts and enrolled full-time for the 2022-2023 academic year. Fellows will meet once every other week during the fall and spring semesters. They will also receive a $6,000 award with an additional $1,500 in supply/execution budget to bring projects to fruition. You may find more details in the attached flyer.

In my capacity as AVP for Equity in the Arts, I've come to know students across CFA who demonstrate a commitment to equity and inclusion through advocacy, community-building, and other actions big and small. I am sure there are many students in your networks who are ideal candidates for this opportunity. Please share the announcement and flyer widely and encourage individual students to apply. The deadline for applications is May 30, 2022.
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Music Building, Room 109
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