Concert displays modern music BY SATIK ANDRIASSIAN jTHIS Saturday night the Univer- sity's Electronic Music Studios, under the direction of George Wil- son, will celebrate its 25th birth- day with a concert of new elec- tronic music by several guest and local composers. Early in 1963, Ross Lee Finney, then chair of the composition department, initiated the project for bringing the elec- tronic music medium within the creative nucleus of the University by appointing George Wilson di- rector of the soon-to-be-flourishing studio. The first creative results were realized by the faculty during the fall months of 1964 while the equipment was temporarily housed on North Campus, before its move to its present home in Hill Auditorium. Wilson is also re- . .sponsible for the University's first computer-generated music facility, for which he received four succes- sive National Endowment for the Arts grants. Wilson feels that the flexibility and versatility of the studio and its pedagogy have greatly enhanced the potential for unlimited creative ex- change - a potential that has been realized in Saturday night's con- cert. It features the works of guest composers, both alumni of the JOSE JUAREZ/Day- John Kennedy, John Morrison, Serra Hwang, George Wilson, John Costa, and Evan Chambers all perform compositions in the 25th birthday celebration of the electronic music department. University composition department - David Vayo of Connecticut College, and Jeffrey Bass, a former member of the music composition faculty here. From the present ranks of the composition depart- ment are distinguished doctoral students Evan Chambers, John Costa, Serra Hwang, John Kennedy, and John Morrison. Among the other artists featured in this concert is choreogra- pher/dancer Jessica Fogel, a faculty member of the University dance department, whose works have been produced throught the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Adding the visual component will be internationally recognized and award-winning Detroit artist Thomas Frank. He is credited with the world's first Clichd-verra dye transfer film, and the first success- ful use of metallic pigments in the gun bichromatic printmaking pro- cess. Saturday night's concert will present different types of electronic music, including tape music generated by electronic instruments and manipulated by diverse pro- cessing devices; tape music com- posed from mixtures of electronic sound sources; and tape music cre- ated by acoustic instruments and processed with electronics. For the most part, however, composers have used the conven- tional techniques - complex sounds are constructed by splicing together short pieces of pre- recorded tape. These strings of sound are re-manipulated, achiev- ing the desired richness of sound. The ear then perceives the complex sound as a whole without being able to hear the smaller fragments. This mosaic-like process is a slow one that takes enormous pa- tience on the part of the composer. The flexibility of electronic music and its versatility lies upon the composer's knowledge of special- ized techniques as well as intimate familiarity of the electronic equip- ment. This skill, determination, and artistic commitment will all be well-represented Saturday. The electronic music concert will be presented Saturday at 8 p.m. at Rackham. Admission is free. The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 9, 1988- Page 9 G&SS produce expected Utopia BY BETH COLQUITT What can one say of an opera which is no more than expected, and yet no less than expected? It would be nice to say that the Gilbert and Sullivan Society's production of Utopia, Limited , was a superb and lovely show, and go into all the details of why it was so good, but this doesn't describe one's immediate reaction to the show. G&SS'sUtopia was exceedingly pleasant and enjoyable. The singing voices of the main characters were lovely. Especially good was the Princess Zara (Kaia Monroe), whose voice and stage presence were superb. Her costumes were also particularly appropos and flattering. The costuming in general had a very professional appearance, thanks to the efforts of Kathleen McCall, who also created costumes for The Gon- doliers and Patience . But none of this should come as any surprise. Gilbert and Sullivan created shows that are very difficult to undertake if you aren't planning to do them well, so one always expects that any Gilbert and Sullivan pro- duction will be musically excellent and visually pleasing. One can expect no less from a Gilbert and Sullivan society. AlthoughUtopia is a much more of a satire than Gilbert and Sullivan's. earlier works, it has the same light attitude asThe Pirates of Penzance or II.M.S. Pinafore . Gilbert doesn't leave anyone out, but he also doesn't ever engage in vicious satire. The irony occasionally becomes so frivolous that it almost undermines its purpose. There are times whenUtopia is unreservedly silly - the wise men (David Jessen and Don Devine) are supposed to represent some of the clownish activities that go on in, a corrupt government, but these men are clowns in their own right, dancing and stumbling around the stage. This is also true with the "Public Exploder," (Timur Kocak) whose job it is to detonate the king if he dis- obeys the wise men's "advice." If you are searching for an aesthetically, pleasing show to see this weekend, go see Utopia, one of the best local performances this fall.It met all my expectations, and if you have lower expectations of Gilbert and Sullivan than I, you will probably think it outstanding. UTOPIA, LIMITED is being performed tonight through Sunday at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. Performance times are tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and tommorrow and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10, $'9 $8.50, and $7.50; $5 with student ID. Satisfy Your Curiosity! Have the 1988/89 Salary Supplement delivered to your home or office. To order your copy, send $2.00; plus $1.00 for postage and handling persupplement; requested. Previous years are also available at the same cost ($3 total). 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