09/04/17

AMES, Iowa — Composer and sound artist Scott L. Miller will join saxophonist and Iowa State University faculty member Michael Giles for an evening of “Electroacoustic Improvisations” at the ISU Design on Main Gallery, 203 Main St.

Miller and Giles will perform from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, in the gallery. Part of the 2017 Lipa Festival of Electroacoustic and Visual Music curated by composer Christopher Hopkins, an ISU associate professor of music, the informal event will be followed by a catered reception.

“I am especially pleased this year to include an event in downtown Ames,” said Hopkins, who has headed the festival since 2004. “The performance at Design on Main will afford an especially intimate engagement with improvisatory electronic chamber music.”

Attendees can also view the “Everything to Everybody” exhibition of mixed-media paintings by artist Mary Mello, an associate professor of art at Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, on display in the gallery through Oct. 9. The exhibition, performance and reception are free and open to the public.

Miller is a composer of interactive electroacoustic chamber music and ecosystemic performance pieces. He is fascinated by the inner workings of sound and draws inspiration from “the exquisite, the microscopic and the immersive” in both the natural and mechanical worlds. His music is characterized by collaborative approaches to composition, the use of electronics and improvisation while exploring transformational processes, performer/computer improvisation and re-imaginings of older compositional processes through the lens of 21st-century technology.

Giles’ commitment to original music and inventive approaches have made him a recognizable voice throughout the Midwest. Working with eclectic mixes of personalities and instrumentation, he has released several albums to high acclaim and has been showcased as a soloist in both national and international concert venues and festivals. He is a senior lecturer in the ISU Department of Music and Theatre.

The Lipa Festival is supported in part by the C. Buell Lipa Memorial for 20th Century Music, a fund that honors the memory of C. Buell Lipa, an ISU emeritus professor of English who loved music.

Contacts

Christopher Hopkins, Lipa Festival Curator, (515) 294-0396, hopkinsc@iastate.edu
Catherine Reinhart, Design on Main Gallery Manager, designonmain@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications Specialist, (515) 294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu

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