House for
Music

The Del Sol Composer Incubator was created in 2020 to offer early career composers the chance to work in-depth with Del Sol over the course of 6 months on unique musical projects. By providing ample collaborative time, the quartet will work with these composers to think critically about the role of activism, performance venue, and concert presentation while writing a work for string quartet. This concert presents the works by the 3 inaugural composers

A three-hour nonstop performance with video and audio recordings by 26 composers, performers and interdisciplinary artists of works that were created mostly during the Creative Music Online program in August 2021. Highlights include world premieres of 8 works written specifically for Del Sol String Quartet, and performances by Creative Music Online director Michael Harrison and faculty members Vadim Neselovskyi, Payton MacDonald, and Reiko Fueting’s Passage Time performed by violinist Miranda Cuckson.  Run of the show: Vadim Neselovskyi - “Odessa - 1941 - prayer - Jewish dance”Cybele Paschke - Lake Zhikr of 1001 NightsIskra Valtcheva - Little Blue PlanetPayton MacDonald - EntropicsGeorge Young (by Ry Cooder and Jon Haitt) - Across the BorderlinePerformed by Del Sol (set1):Stacy Fahrion - String Quartet number 1 - “Subtracting Impossibilities”Maddie Ashman - “Gravitation”Philip Foster - Cosmography 9Wenbin Lyu - BounceReiko Fueting - Passage Time (Performed by Miranda Cuckson)Heddy Cheung - The Snowman is Melting (Performed by Payton MacDonald)Peter Bailey -...

An incredibly rare, personal and insightful dialogue with composer/performer Terry Riley from the Creative Music Online program in August 2021. Moderated by Riley’s long-time friend and student, program director, Michael Harrison, with questions from participating composers. Date and time:  October 17th, 20212pm EDT Length of event: 120 minutes  Cost to participant: Free

What is the pulse of a city when citizens go silent? What are the scenes of a city when society recedes? What qualities and processes remain when everyday activities are abandoned? As the city enters a state of “Lockdown,” the urban environment loses its most distinctive element: human presence. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to consider the city abandoned. As human activity withdraws, other processes and activities come into focus. Cars pass through empty streets, trees sway in deserted parks, birds roam uninhabited spaces. In Sonic Trails: Lockdown, visitors are immersed in various events of a lockdown city occurring regardless of their presence. Using multiple audio-visual samples of these urban phenomena, the installation creates a new inhabitable place using layered projections and four loudspeakers. Artificial intelligence algorithms determine the composition of this environment in a constant process of deconstruction and reconfiguration. Pitches and harmonies are dissected from environmental noises, familiar objects and places are...

Musicians in any genre, working at any level from amateur to professional, are invited to join this welcoming community where we'll learn by doing. Join in with your voice or your instrument (and feel free to mute your own singing/playing) as Michael Harrison shares the Kirana lineage of Khayal singing he learned from his Gurus Pandit Pran Nath, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Terry Riley and La Monte Young. Together, we'll experience the basics of raga, from structural principles to the building blocks of basic rhythmic cycles, improvisation,  ways of combining raga with Western musical approaches, and Kuraj practice (an early morning long-tone vocal meditation). Daisy Press will also teach weekly practice sessions to assist everyone in learning and practicing. Come explore the beauty and the techniques of raga in this nurturing environment, and learn how these rich traditions can illuminate your own musical voice. Application DeadlineJune 7, 2021. Duration of Program5 weeks Program Fee $300  Selection...

Join composer/pianist Michael Harrison in an exploration of his new album, Seven Sacred Names (Cantaloupe Music), through musical performances and interactive conversation. Seven Sacred Names is meant as a companion album to the book Nature’s Hidden Dimension by author, astrophysicist, and modern Sufi mystic W.H.S. Gebel. The Seven Sacred Names, according to the mystical cosmology of Sufism, tell the story of “...an awakening primal Self,” as Gebel writes in the album's liner notes. Harrison says of this album, “I wanted to show how beautiful simple harmonies can be, especially in just intonation...and [to create a work] that would serve as an introduction inviting listeners and musicians to start perceiving just intonation as an infinite harmonic system encompassing limitless possibilities on a spectrum between simplicity and complexity.” The event will be moderated by John Schaefer, host of WNYC's New Sounds, with guests author W.H.S. Gebel and musicians Tim Fain (violin) and Ashley Bathgate (cello). Moderated byJohn...