I've returned from ICMC (International Computer Music Conference) in New York, where I performed as Prisoner of Vampires, presenting a set of electropop songs mired in stochastic distortion.  While there I also got to check out some other really cool acts, including Robert Ratcliffe/Sarah Watts' "Wake Up Call" (electronica with bass clarinet!) and Joshua Fried's Radio Wonderland (live improvisations derived from FM radio!).

Back in California, on June 5 my concert series People Inside Electronics held its second concert, Vicious Circles and Deadly Elements.  We had a full hall at the Marjorie Branson Performance Space in the Boston Court Performing Arts Complex in Pasadena, also making this our second sold-out concert (2 for 2!).  This concert featured the concert debut of Alex Francois and Elaine Chew's MIMI (Multimodal Interaction for Musical Improvisation), software that recombines a performer's live improvisation to create new improvisations. Here you can see me in concert performing with MIMI on the Yamaha Disklavier:

MIMI is a really fascinating and challenging tool to work with -- not only does it magnify what is possible for me in a live improvisation, it also magnifies my mistakes!  I think that it has future applications as a teaching tool as well as an instrument for performance.  I'll be continuing to work with this software in the fall, so I'll keep this space updated with MIMI's activities...

I'm pleased to report that Mobile I for violin and electronics was one of four finalists in the ASCAP/SEAMUS Student Commission Competition, which I'm told had an unprecedented number of applicants this year.  Having heard the works of the other finalists, I'm honored to be in such good company:  Beeri Moalem's Harold in California was a wonderfully organic piece for viola and electronics; Chikashi Miyama won second place with Piano Chimera, a really compelling work using recorded piano sounds with synchronous video; and Chester Udell won first place with Brass Alchemist for trombone and electronics, which cleverly used the resonance of the piano as a link between acoustic and electronic sound.

(I saw a lot of other great stuff this week too, but unfortunately it would take a much longer post to properly summarize all of it.)

The LA Weekly blog now has a lovely post-mortem of the improv workshops at Machine Project.  I'm happy to report that we had an amazing group of musicians of all kinds in attendance.  Here are a couple more photos (taken by Amanda Colligan) that didn't make it into the article:

The LA Weekly and 944 Magazine blogs have a couple of nice articles about the upcoming music improvisation workshops at Machine Project and my involvement with them.  Enjoy, and hope to see you there!

I'm excited to announce that Mobile I for violin and live electronics will be performed at this year's SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) conference by violinist Marion Judish on Thursday, April 8th at St. Cloud State University.  This will be the first public performance of the work outside of California.