The Mother of Us All preview video

Donald Byrd speaks about Spectrum Dance Theatre’s upcoming production The Mother of Us All. We are two weeks from the premiering this new work at The Moore Theatre in Seattle. This video by Zebra Visual, gives insight into our approach.

Donald uses “authentic structures” to generate the performance. What do you think?

 

Disappearing email

I am sad to report that my info@hearbyron.com email address disappeared yesterday – September 19, 2010. I have lost four years of archived messages and business contacts.

Apologies in advance if messages to info@hearbyron.com go unanswered. I have worked with Microsoft Office Live tech support to resolve this issue, but the account was canceled without my knowledge and information was permanently deleted.

This is perhaps a warning? Or perhaps this signals a new beginning?

I wish I could reach each one of you in person to let you know, but without email that is impossible (!) If you need to contact me, consider visiting my garden where I will be picking tomatoes, taking care of the chickens and composing music

Thanks for your understanding.

 

CD Makes a Splash

New audio recording features opera singers and water percussionists (Seattle WA) One day, composer Byron Au Yong was overcome in the bottled water section of the supermarket. He heard voices from Poland Spring and Fiji cry out. Au Yong, a Seattle-based musician who composes songs of dislocation, realized that water was kidnapped and taken far from home. In response, he created 64 musical miniatures for voice and percussion to be performed in, about, and around water. While composing, Au Yong was inspired by listening to water and studying the I Ching (Book of Changes). He invited eight librettists from around the world to create contemporary responses to the I Ching, one of the oldest Chinese texts. Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas travels through warnings, prayers, fantasies, and whispers in a thematic review for future generations about an element older than man. Human voices and splashing water cry out harder than the silent wisdom of hair turned white. The initiative was performed in 64 waterways throughout the Pacific Northwest in Summer 2008, as part of 4Culture’s Site-Specific Performance Network and the Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts. A Sound/Light Installation, created with media sculptor Randy Moss, was shown at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Fall 2008. The Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas CD is available from CD Baby at http://cdbaby.com/cd/byronauyong Track List Hello Helicopter Lawn Sprinkler Plish I Float Abundai (Seven Operas) Puckered Skin I.C.E. Dust Away Bump And Grind Kun (Five Operas) I Am Felled Taking Time After The Stoning Composer Byron Au Yong Singers Josie Davis, Emily Greenleaf, Jeremiah Oliver, David Stutz Percussionists Stuart McLeod, Dean Moore, Benjamin Morrow, James Whetzel Librettists Eugenie Chan, Bret Fetzer, Aaron Jafferis, Archana Kumar, Carola Luther, Caroline Murphy, Vivian Umino, and Edisa Weeks Audio Engineer Tom Stiles at Jack Straw Productions Designer Wing Fong # # # About Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas “… exquisite darkness… whimsical lines… captivating experience.” The Stranger Praise for Au Yong’s previous work “The music by Byron Au Yong is da bomb.” Northwest Asian Weekly “Strong, evocative, engaging music.” Fanfare Magazine “… a beguiling hybrid of cultures.” Seattle PI Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas is thankful for support from Creative Capital’s Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; 4Culture’s King County Site-Specific Performance Network; Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts; and Jack Straw Productions. Contact Info PR Contact David Miljoner (Spokesperson) Phone: +1 (516) 779-5328 Email: dmiljonerATyahoo.com Website: HearByron.com Related Links Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas CD cover Technorati Tags: music | CD | opera | water | percussion | Asian | Chinese American | composer | Au Yong | Kidnapping Water | CD Baby | musical | bottled operas | singing | Pacific Northwest | environment | water resources

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Science proves that I compose the most hated music

Composer and scientist Dave Soldier polled 500+ people to discover what elements people liked and hated in music. This was based on Komar and Melamid’s Most Wanted Paintings project.

Soldier discovered that people hated:

• opera
• rap
• children’s choirs
• bagpipes
• accordion
• banjo
• harp
• tuba
• flute
• holiday music
• store jingles
• cowboy songs

Soldier compiled these elements and more into the Most Unwanted Song. It is on the album the The People’s Choice: Music. The album also includes the Most Wanted Song – an R&B narrative about love.

I am partial to the Most Unwanted Song. How could anyone not like a rapping opera singer backed up by a children’s choir singing about Wal*Mart and Yom Kippur?

 

Seattle Snow

 

 

Kick-ass performance artist Kristina Wong was in town for the National Performing Network Annual Meeting last weekend. She gave me a hand-made felt cat.

Here is b-cat with friendly puppy looking at my truck Mighty Max. They bond over their first snow together.
 

Being inside with snow outside is perfect for composing music. Snow quiets the outdoors. Footsteps crunch. Laughter amplifies.

With these sounds, I start writing a new set of interludes for multiple toy pianos and ping pong balls that wild musician/designer Tif Lin will premiere in March 2009.

Thanks to David Miller for his awesome photos. They make this snowy Kodak moment between b-cat and puppy truly romantic.

Are you having romance in the snow?