Art of sound
Boston Court unveils night of revolutionary electroacoustic music
By Carl Kozlowski 06/03/2010
As a member of an all-klezmer band, Isaac Schankler is a composer with a deep appreciation for historic musical styles. Yet, when he teams up with fellow composer Aron Kallay to create music under the name of People Inside Electronics, he is crafting cutting-edge compositions that meld live acoustic classical instruments with an assortment of electronic instruments and computers.
The duo, who met while collaborating as doctoral students studying music at USC, will be bringing their unique sounds to the Boston Court Performing Arts Center's music series Friday in what is only their second public performance after debuting at the South Pasadena Library.
The ambitious program will feature six works by outside composers across two 40-minute acts.
“We take classical electroacoustic music — music that combines live acoustic instruments like orchestral, piano, and guitar — with an electronic instrument of some type,” says Kallay. “There are a lot of pieces for live instruments with a taped electronic part, and others with live electronics. The live electronic aspect is when you mike an instrument and take that signal into a computer, changing the sound. That sound is sent to the audience at the same time — a piano plays a chord, the computer changes the sound of the chord and sends it back to the audience. It's almost like creating a hybrid instrument, half acoustic and half-machine.”
Pittsburgh native Kallay is now a Pasadena resident and teaches music both at USC and in private lessons, while Michigan native Schankler just moved to Silver Lake. Although their music has a distinctive flavor, Kallay believes it will catch on because, he says, it's “so much fun to play.”
“One of our biggest challenges is that an artificial intelligence software program will play live on a disklavier while somebody is playing on the same piano with it,” says Kallay. “They have to avoid each other so they don't play the same note at the same time, as the computer figures out what the person is going to play. I feel electroacoustic music will become more common with classical composers, because young people are growing up with this tech and it's becoming increasingly easy to use.”
People Inside Electronics will perform at 8 pm Saturday at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Tickets are $25. Call (626) 683-6883 or visit bostoncourt.com or peopleinsideelectronics.com.
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