Two Portraits in February, 2016

On February 19, 2016 the premiere performance of A Portrait of Stephanie Spenser was given at the Southeastern Composers League festival at Campbell University. The electronic music piece uses sounds such as a recording of a horse walking and one stone hitting another along with a sonic mapping of the cover of one of Dr. Spenser's books and a photo of Dr. Spenser and her horse Clancy to develop a musical portrait of Prof. Spenser, who teaches at North Carolina State University. 

On February 7, 2016 a special preview performance of another musical portrait -- that of Dr. Jonathan C. Kramer was presented at North Carolina State University. A Portrait of Jonathan C. Kramer features manipulated recordings of Prof. Kramer playing the cello, references to his work as an ethnomusicologist, as well as a mapping of a photograph of Dr. Kramer. Kramer presented the piece, which exists as an acousmatic or "tape" work and as a piece that can be performed by a cellist together with the "tape" part was presented in Stewart Theatre in Raleigh as part of concert that included the other works by Schubert and Brahms. Besides Kramer, performers in the concert were Olga Kleiankina and Peter Askim of NC State, Scott Rawls of UNCG, and Sarah Johnson of Converse College.