An Evening of Music by Composer, Sonic Pioneer Alvin Lucier

Smith College will open the second season of the Festival of Sound and Space series with a performance of four compositions highlighting the works of sound artist and composer Alvin Lucier at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, October 25, Helen Hills Hills Chapel.  The event is free and open to the public.

Lucier, a professor emeritus from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., is known for his pioneering work in music composition and performance technique, including the use of amplified brain waves to create sound in live performance. His interest in the sonic properties of physical media and architectural space has led to landmark pieces such as “Music on a Long Thin Wire” and “I Am Sitting in a Room.”

The concert program features “Vespers,” in which blindfolded performers traverse the concert space with custom-built echo-locating devices; “Music for Piano and Amplified Sonorous Vessels,” performed by Smith College Associate Professor Judith Gordon; “Charles Curtis” for solo cello with slow sweep pure wave oscillators, performed by Jessie Marino; and “Carbon Copies” for saxophone, piano and percussion, performed respectively by Jason Robinson, Philip Dupont and Jake Meginsky.

Lucier will be working with the performers in rehearsal and attending the performance.

Gregory W. Brown serves as founding artistic director and organizer for the series, which is produced in collaboration with the Smith College Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. The series continues November 15 with pianist Conor Hanick performing John Cage’s “Sonatas and Interludes” and December 6 with “Within Singularity,” an imaginative exploration of cross-media modulation featuring local musicians Jason Robinson, Stephanie Robinson and Max Suechting.

For more information about the Festival of Sound and Space, call (413) 585-3222. For disability accommodations, e-mail arc@smith.edu or call (413) 585-2071. To request a sign language interpreter, call at least 10 days prior to the event.