The Music of Hunter Ewen

Wedding

2009-05-12T18:48:00.001-06:00

I will be out of email or telephone contact (except for emergencies)
from now until May 31st. Megan and I will be in Atlanta for the
wedding ceremony, followed by Hawaii for our honeymoon. We will have
more updates and pictures at http://www.meganandhunter.com Happy
Wedding!

ATL&S Interactive Player Piano Installation

2009-05-04T10:25:00.001-06:00

If you're around the ATL&S Building this week, check out the premiere of my Purple Donkey Pomegranate, for player piano. E.J. Posselius has created a neat user interface where you can turn on or off one of three tracks played by a Disklavier piano. His installation will be available in the lobby of the ATL&S building at CU on Tuesday, May 5th until 4:00pm and Thursday, May 7th until 7:00pm.

Open Me - Performance Tomorrow

2009-04-23T21:57:00.002-06:00

If you're in the Denver area tomorrow, check out my 'Open Me', being performed as part of the excellent CoCoCo (Colorado Composers Concert) by the Playground Ensemble. There are also two other great performances by CU Composers Greg Simon and Anthony Green (as well as a lot of other works by Colorado composers) on the same concert. Pre-concert lecture starts at 6:00, and the concert is at 7:30, at the Kenneth King Center for the Performing Arts, at DU.

8 New Videos

2009-03-30T00:20:00.009-06:00

As promised, here are the videos from my most recent premiere, elements. The preferred viewing order is as follows:

Introduction

Crescendo

Fermata

Staccato (ugh, it drops a lot of frames)

Trill

Slur

Sforzando

Decrescendo

YouTube is experimenting with a new HD mode, but at the time being, my videos are failing to play at that resolution. Anyway, please enjoy!

Unconventional Publishing

2009-03-13T15:00:00.005-06:00

So as strange as this seems, my latest soprano/piano piece Open Me is published in the latest issue of Ouroboros (a poetry and art magazine). The images from the score are placed next to Amy Pence's original poetry. There is (at least for now) a free version available online, or you can purchase print issues from their website. You can listen to an mp3 here, or watch videos of the premiere here and here.

New Premiere 3/18

2009-02-25T12:04:00.004-07:00

I'd like to invite anyone in the Boulder/Denver area to a cool new premiere of my multimedia composition Elements. The performance is on 3/18, in the Atlas Black Box Theater, at CU-Boulder. The composition was written for video and 5.1 surround sound (in the DVD format), so it differs significantly from Gi•nt's Eye in its ease of use and simple setup! After the concert I will be posting youtubes of the videos, so be on the lookout!

Alarm Will Sound

2009-01-18T10:17:00.003-07:00

If you're interested, the unbelievably talented new music ensemble "Alarm Will Sound" is doing my piece Ultradian Bipolar Disorder, tonight in Grusin Hall at CU Boulder. If you're in the area, feel free to stop by at 6:00.

2009 CoCoCo Competition Winner

2008-12-19T14:32:00.004-07:00

I just heard from The Playground Ensemble that my piece Open Me for soprano and piano was selected as one of the winners of the Colorado Composers Concert Call for Scores. The performance will be on 4/25/09, but I will post more details as they become available. Thanks to everyone on the selection committee!

Unsilent Night

2008-12-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Check out Megan and me in a fun piece of performance art by Phil Kline. It's called Unsilent Night and consists of carrying boom boxes around downtown Boulder, playing some pretty, ambient music. Video is courtesy of the Daily Camera.

New Ultradian Bipolar Disorder Videos

2008-12-11T00:38:00.006-07:00

Firstly, I am well aware that many of my recent posts have been videos. A video section is on the way. In the mean time, please enjoy this recording of Ultradian Bipolar Disorder. If you want a mastered, excellent sounding version, please visit my compositions page. I also have an excellent new shopping cart on that page if you are interested in scores.

Ultradian Bipolar Disorder: part 1 of 2

Ultradian Bipolar Disorder: part 2 of 2

Ultradian Bipolar Disorder Premiere

2008-11-12T23:17:00.002-07:00

If you're on the CU Boulder campus tonight, please check out my premiere of Ultradian Bipolar Disorder. There's also 3 other premieres, and Stravinsky's Les Noces. It's going to be a very cool concert.

Gi•nt's Eye Rehearsal, Altered

2008-11-07T20:54:00.006-07:00

So I got it in my head to post videos of all the "background fodder" I used for Gi•nt's Eye. Some of it is pretty cool, and a lot of it doesn't show up on the current videos I have online (since it was a 2 night performance, the projected video changed from one night to the other). For right now, let me just post this one. It's from a rehearsal of Gi•nt's Eye, with the dancers experimenting and the piano being controlled by MaxMSP. Keep in mind the piano programming (at the time the video was recorded) has NO MELODY and NO ADDITIONAL PEOPLE playing live. The result is loud and "whack whack whack" but kind of dull :)

I added some video filtering (ghosting, saturation) and captured the film to use as a quasi-dynamic background, on which I mixed real time video during the performance. Enjoy:

Update: After adding all these videos, I'm starting to get very serious about the idea of including a video section. Maybe after DMA applications are sent out! In the mean time, here's another video of a performance from the Boulder library that I altered in a similar way for the performance.

Ultradian Bipolar Disorder

2008-11-06T22:36:00.003-07:00

I have an update about my newest premiere, Ultradian Bipolar Disorder. The premiere is Wednesday, November 12th at 7:30pm (at Grusin Hall, in the music building of CU-Boulder). I'm starting to really get into posting on youtube, so I'll try to have a video up in the next couple weeks.

Before the concert actually takes place, I wanted to say a few words about new music on campus. I've been fortunate to work with a group of people that are, without exception, very excited and very enthusiastic about new music. As a composer, this is a huge relief - we have all been to rehearsals that feel like pulling teeth, and my experience with this group has been one of sheer joy and unbridled enthusiasm. I want to list all the performers below and mention that, as composers, we are forever indebted to these people that take hours and hours of their life to perfect that which we ask of them - and to those who put their musical reputations on the line to perform our music, to speak with our voice. Thank you all:

Emma Shubin, Katie Bloise, Paul Farus, Neal Postma, Tyler Sherban, Kristi Kilgore, Greg Simon, Max Ripple, Anthony Green, Filip Lazovski, Sam Gathman, Anne Ristorcelli, Lexi Massey, and our ever-vigilant conductor Stephanie Texara.

New Harry Potter Video

2008-11-06T22:00:00.006-07:00

Before you ask, yes it is a $5 harry potter wand duct-taped to the end of a nintendo wii-mote. This piece is a great example of why youtube is terrible. As hard as Case Western tried, and as good a job that they did recording and mastering this - Harry Potter Returns to Hogwarts is a piece that absolutely relies on surround sound. There are things constantly being thrown around, spinning and moving - and almost all of that is lost on youtube. Case Western did a great job of presenting the piece in full surround sound (and Amasa Stone Chapel is a perfect venue for a Harry Potter piece), but youtube just can't hack it :)

Putting that issue aside, the video turned out to be pretty cool! Check it out below.

Update: I think it's worth mentioning a specific element of this piece I really liked. As my much tech class can attest, I am constantly complaining about two things: uninformative titles of pieces and using tech for the sake of tech.

I won't attest to the quality (or lack thereof) of my title, but I can say that what I like most about this piece is that there is no visible computer (or other tech). From the perspective of the audience, there is no intermediary - no system of translation between my intent and their perceived meaning. Modern wireless protocols allow us to break down that computerized barrier that separates (often times physically) performers from audience. You are not staring blindly at a set of speakers. You are also not starring at a person who is staring at (or at least focused on) a computer or other automated system. Everything becomes organic. It's personal.

This is a piece without score, largely improvisatory - which requires the tech I used (and nothing more). It is also a presentation that draws the audience and performer together. This is the future of electronic (electro-acoustic) music, or at least this is what I hope it will be. I don't want people to have to draw meaning and musical sentiment from inanimate objects; I want to establish a connection (a mechanism of trust) between performer and audience.

These thoughts are rough hewn and extemporaneous; I may post a longer, more thought out version on the Cu-Pendulum blog.

Program Notes - Novus Ordo Seclorum

2008-11-06T21:51:00.001-07:00

Click here for a link to a basic explanation of how the tech in Novus Ordo Seclorum Works. The description is mine, but the layout and formatting is from the wonderful composer Paul Hembree.

Update: there's also the briefest of mentions of me in the local paper. The article is very Michael Daugherty, not very me - but still worth a mention ;)

New Novus Ordo Seclorum Video

2008-11-02T12:13:00.005-07:00

Here's a new video from last month's premiere of Novus Ordo Seclorum. I'm getting so many videos on this site, I think I'll make a separate page for them. In the mean time, enjoy these new videos.

Part 1

Part 2

New Open Me Video

2008-11-02T12:07:00.004-07:00

From the premiere, here is the video of Open Me. The poetry is by Amy Pence, the music and graphics are mine.

Movements 1-3

Movements 4-5

Newest Premiere - Open Me

2008-10-05T13:00:00.004-06:00

Wednesday, 10/15 will be the premiere of my new set of song cycles, Open Me. This piece features poetry by Amy Pence, as well as graphical scores - which will be projected behind the performers. It will take place at 7:30 pm in Grusin hall, at CU-Boulder.

Oh, and Michael Daugherty will be there, so you know it will be awesome!!

Cleveland Concert

2008-09-20T12:56:00.000-06:00

If you're in cleveland Wednesday, drop by Amasa Stone at 12:30 for the premiere of my new piece "Harry Potter Returns to Hogwarts". If you're not around, I'll post a youtube as soon as it's available. I am also waiting on the youtube from last week's premiere "Novus Ordo Seclorum".

Colorado Daily

2008-09-17T10:11:00.003-06:00

Check out a cool article about me in today's Colorado Daily, p.4

Premiere

2008-09-15T12:58:00.002-06:00

My newest premiere is in Boulder, at CU, in Grusin hall. It's called Novus Ordo Seclorum, and was commissioned for Constitution Day by the University of Colorado. It uses a projected score, a series of dramatic readings, and I sing at the end (processed audio of course). There also may or may not be fireworks. If you can't attend, I'll post a youtube when it's up.

Radio Interview and Other Press

2008-09-12T08:49:00.000-06:00

Check out the radio interview I'm doing for Boulder 1190. It's on Sunday at 7:30pm. Also, there's a really nifty press release circulating about the premiere. I've included it below:

CONSTITUTION DAY CONCERT CELEBRATION FEATURES COMPOSITION PRIZE WINNER

A prize-winning composition by a CU-Boulder student that seeks to reflect in music what our founding fathers were feeling when they gathered to write the Constitution will be performed in a concert in celebration of Constitution Day, Sept. 17.

“Novus Ordo Seclorum” (New Order for the Ages), by Hunter Ewen, a master’s student in composition, will be featured in the Pendulum New Music Concert Series on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The concert, which opens with “Fanfare” by Daniel Kellogg, commissioned and performed by the CU Horn Choir, will be held in Grusin Music Hall. It will be free and open to the public, with a reception following.

Ewen’s piece won the Constitution Day composition competition cosponsored by CU-Boulder’s College of Music and the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement.
When composing the piece, Ewen set out to capture the ethos of the political culture at the time of the Philadelphia convention. On Sept. 17, 1787, 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention adopted the Constitution of the United States of America. The Constitution officially took effect on March 4, 1789.

“There are several unusual elements in this composition, all of which reinforce the sense of community, as well as the idea of stepping off a ledge and diving headfirst into the unknown,” said Ewen, who composed the piece to include a set of live performers underscoring a series of dramatic readings, where music is generated and notated by a computer.

“Their uncertainties about the future of the country translate into our uncertainties about what’s going to happen next, musically,” said Ewen. “Their sense of community becomes are sense of community, their fearlessness becomes our fearlessness.”

Each year the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement undertakes a project to commemorate the constitution. Activities from past years include an art competition, debates, and online quizzes.

“We try to keep it lively and sponsor an activity that will capture people’s imaginations,” said Peter Simons, director of the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement.

Call the College of Music Concerts Box Office at 303-492-8008 for
information about this performance. For more information about the College of Music visit http://www.colorado.edu/music. Information on the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement is available at http://www.colorado.edu/iece.

Moving Images

2008-08-28T14:27:00.001-06:00

Experiencing moving images is a fairly common occurrence in modern society. Please see here if you don't know what I mean. My new piece, Novus Ordo Seclorum is going to explore that phenomenon. With a projected score, procedurally generated, the performers will be repeating short musical gestures (a la Riley's in C) that morph and evolve over time. The performance is celebrating Constitution day, and will be performed on Constitution day (9/17) at 7:30pm, Grusin Hall, University of Colorado at boulder. Please inquire with requests for score rental, if interested. I would be happy to send out the Max file.

Alarm Will Sound

2008-08-28T14:24:00.001-06:00

I just learned that I was selected to have my newest composition "Ultradian Bipolar Disorder" read and recorded by Alarm Will Sound in January of next year. More details on the reading, as well as the premiere, as events warrant.

Bumping "Open Me" Back

2008-08-28T14:17:00.001-06:00

Because of this Constitution day commission, I am bumping the premiere of Open Me from that concert. The new concert time is TBD, but I will post when I have more details.