Cristin Wildbolz performed new works for double bass and electronics composed by nine women from four continents. The program included Spiral Jetty by Huba de Graaff (Netherlands), Lullaby by Barbara Woof (Australia), Yume by Margrit Rieben (Switzerland), Contra-Voice by Keren Rosenbaum (Israel), Diaphonie II by Mela Meierhans (Switzerland), Urban Dreams by Haruna Miyake (Japan), ZsOom by Katharina Rosenberger (Switzerland), Dido by Mayke Nas (Netherlands), and Inner Voice by Anne LeBaron (USA).

From sound collage typical of musique concrète to sounds based on instruments, Elzbieta Sikora completed a year of artistic exploration at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris. She brought her latest works from Paris to New York. The program included Flashback, Geometries Variables, Aquamarina, Grains de Sable / Grains of Sand, and Suite, for cello and electronic sounds, performed by Rubin Kodheli.

Tuesday, May 4 at 8pm
Jean-Claude Risset: Portrait of the Composer

Jean-Claude Risset, winner of the prestigious CNRS Gold Medal in France, pioneer in computer music and digital audio from the first days at Bell Labs in the 1960s, made an exceptional appearance in New York to present several of his most important electronic works. The program started with an interview conducted by Joel Chadabe on the early days of research in generating sound with computers at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The program continued with Risset's Mutations, composed in 1969. Mutations was shown in a special version, integrated with an award-winning film by Lillian Schwartz. The film is based on computer images, laser beams diffracted in plastics, and crystal growth in polarized light. The program continued with Variants, for electronic sounds and violin, performed by Mari Kimura, then excerpts from Resonant Sound Spaces and Elementa: Focus, Aer, Terra for multichannel computer-generated sounds.

Thursday, May 6 at 9pm
Frances Marie Uitti: Bowed Electricity

Frances Marie Uitti, extraordinary cellist, author of a book on new cello techniques, recently visiting faculty at Oberlin Conservatory, and well known for unique technical approaches to performance such as polyphonic chordal playing through the simultaneous use of two bows, presented her recent work with electronics. In this evening's program, Uitti performed an extended improvisation with her 6-string electric cello, custom-designed software, and her innovative double-bow polyphony. She also performed an improvisational duet with violinist Mari Kimura.

Friday, May 7 at 8pm
Neil B. Rolnick: Playing with the Laptop, Plus ...

Neil B. Rolnick composes and performs with a computer, and his aesthetic sense guides his music in an eclectic direction, incorporating elements of improvisation, jazz, popular idioms, and classical electronic performance. In this concert of his recent music, he presents six works not previously heard in New York. The program will include Robert Johnson Sampler, Gate Beats, and Neighborhood Ears, all performed by the composer. Also The Real Thief of Baghdad, for voice and electronic sounds, performed by Tyrone Henderson; Body Work, for voice and electronic sounds, performed by Joan La Barbara; and Fiddle Faddle, for violin and electronic sounds, performed by Todd Reynolds.

John Cage and Lejaren Hiller composed HPSCHD in the 1960s for 7 harpsichords playing computer-processed versions of music by Mozart and later composers, 51 tapes of computer-generated sounds, 6400 slide images, and 40 films projected on large screens throughout the performance space. This presentation at the Chelsea Art Museum used synthesizers instead of harpsichords and video and DVD projectors instead of slide and film projectors. It is, as artistic director Joel Chadabe put it, "a new production of HPSCHD for the 21st century." The synthesizer performances were by Robert Conant, Anthony de Mare, and Joseph Kubera. The conception of this production and its artistic direction was by Joel Chadabe, realized by Langdon Crawford as technical director, with assistance from Thomas Beyer as technical consultant. The performance ran continuously from 8 to 11pm. Members of the public were invited to enter, leave, and re-enter the performance space at any time and stay as long as they liked.