Film director Roderick Coover teamed up with ,��composer and UofL assistant professor of composition,��to create a surreal musical, virtual reality romp across time and space that’s been adapted to project onto the dome in the .

“The idea is the viewer is going to lose himself in the project,” Wołek said.

Premiered in 1998, the festival showcases the School of Music’s commitment to innovation, creativity and contemporary music.

“As with past festivals, this fall’s program invites us to engage with artists whose creative approaches and unique perspectives awaken our curiosity and deepen our appreciation for the expressive power of music’s many dialects,” said Teresa Reed, School of Music dean.

Sky Macklay, an oboist and installation artist, is the featured composer this year. Macklay says her music “explores bold contrasts, audible processes, humor and the physicality of sound.”

Her work has been performed by ensembles such as ICE, Yarn/Wire, Wet Ink Ensemble and Spektral Quartet. Two of her pieces, including the string quartet “” have received ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.

Originally from Minnesota, Macklay completed her DMA in composition at Columbia University. She also holds degrees from The University of Memphis (MM) and Luther College (BA). An enthusiastic practitioner of creative music education, Sky has been a composition and musicianship faculty member at The Walden School Young Musicians Program for nine summers. She is assistant professor of Music at Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana.��

“I love weird contemporary music and sharing it with the next generation. I think a lot of it is sharing my own personal perspective on it—just show how much a particular sound excites me and how beautiful I think it is… I think that’s sort of contagious, or at least lets people perceive it as a beautiful thing. I also think that exposure, experience, experiential education and experiential pieces are really a great way to do outreach.…That’s something I think more composers should do: write music that has a participatory role for amateur musicians or for just audience members,” Macklay said in a with New Music Box magazine.

Longleash Trio will perform a premier of Macklay’s composition “FastLowHighSlow” for violin and piano on Wednesday night. Strad Magazine described Longleash Trio’s playing as “lovely,” “expert” and “meticulous.”

“We are delighted to feature Longleash as this year’s principal guest ensemble. Their performance of Dr. Macklay’s music during this year’s festival promises to be both memorable and inspiring,” Reed said.��

In addition to performing in nightly concerts, guest artists will��present master classes and lectures throughout the week. See the detailed����for all events, which are free and open to the public.��

New Music Festival 2019

Sunday, Nov. 10, 8 p.m., Comstock —

Monday, Nov. 11, 8 p.m., Comstock –

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 8 p.m., Comstock –

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 8 p.m., Comstock –

Thursday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m., Comstock –

Thursday, Nov. 14, 8 p.m., Bird –

Thursday, Nov. 14, 3 p.m., Comstock — “Women in Music” panel discussion featuring Sky Macklay

The festival will include a screening of Zahra Partovi’s new film “,” an experimental film focusing on the music of American modernist composer Morton Feldman. Following the film, UofL faculty and guest artists will perform three of Feldman’s shorter works.

, the festival’s headlining composer, is associate professor of music at University of Pittsburgh. Her award-winning music has been performed in the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe.��

“I am a composer and I am a new music pianist,” she says. “The two are inseparable in my artistic objectives. I often write pieces with specific performers in mind, exploiting their individual technical abilities and qualities. My sound arises from a modernist aesthetic but also benefits from a polystylistic approach that is distinctly American.”

Williams, who grew up in Buffalo, New York, about her life as a musician of new “classic” music. Here’s an excerpt from that conversation:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: You recently returned from a Fulbright Fellowship in Ireland — any fond memories?

Williams: Oh yes, I was teaching at the University College Cork, Ireland, for a year. I remember… there’s a great sense of community around music there. I was at a pub once when the woman behind the bar rang the bell and a gentleman started singing in a proper Irish tenor. Soon the entire pub was singing along. It was this amazing feeling of connection and community … I won’t forget that.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: And now that you’re back home, what’s a day in the life for a composer-teacher-pianist?��

Williams: Well, my primary job is as a professor at University of Pittsburgh. For me it’s all about balance, and it depends on what deadline is next.��The ideal day involves practicing a couple of hours and composing a couple of hours. I spend a couple of hours handling the business side of things —-��I’m also the artistic director and composer-in-residence of New Music on the Point Festival in Vermont. Really, a day is bouncing around between these things. I can’t give up any of them — performing and composing are completely integral.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: … Can you talk about your compositional style?

Williams: I try to incorporate techniques and sounds from all different kinds of music and internalize it into my own style. I think that kind of cultural openness is a very American thing.

Samples of Williams’ music are available for listening on her website,��.�� ����

As for UofL’s New Music Festival, in addition to performing in nightly concerts, festival guest artists will��present master classes and lectures throughout the week. See the detailed����for all events, which are free and open to the public.��

• Monday, Nov. 5, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall�� ����
  
• Tuesday, Nov. 6, 8 p.m., Bird Recital Hall
  
• Wednesday, Nov. 7, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall
  
• Thursday, Nov. 8, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall
  
• Friday, Nov. 9, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall
  

The 8:15 p.m. concert features 28 UofL music faculty in performance, a pre-concert reception at the courtyard of the music building, and the premiere of the new lighting for the��Music School’s iconic sculpture “Effervescence.”��

For years, audiences streaming into Comstock Concert Hall for the Faculty Gala have been greeted to the sounds of bagpipes, and that tradition will continue.

“With an evening that begins with dessert, features bagpipers on the hillside welcoming the concert goers, a veritable host of music faculty performers, and a conclusion to the evening that features an outdoor light show and reception, this is going to be a special event, indeed,” said��School of Music Dean Christopher Doane.

The concert is free and open to the public, but the wine and dessert reception is $20 and .��

As usual, the Faculty Gala serves as the gateway into the School of Music’s jam-packed year of performances, which includes world-class visiting artists along with student and faculty performances. Most of these events are free and open to the public.��

Check the����for a full list. Highlights include:

• Sept. 23, , which benefits the piano program at UofL, begins the 2018-19 season��with The Paul York and Dror Biran Duo performing the “Five Cello Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven.”
• Sept. 29,����at Cherokee Park.
• Sept. 29, performs in Louisville Orchestra’s International��Leonard Bernstein celebration.��
• Oct. 31, University Symphony Orchestra performs��
• Nov. 6-10,����featuring guest composer Amy Williams. Dr. Williams is Associate Professor of Music Composition and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh.
• Nov. 30-Dec. 3, ,��the familiar story of “The Nutcracker” from the time that Clara starts dreaming of snow and the land of sweets.

The School of Music will also sponsor a series of free concerts at��, 3640 River Park Drive, in West Louisville on weekends in September and October. This concert series is a part of the School of Music’s Signature Partnership outreach.��

The School of Music presents its annual�� Nov. 6-10, with a slate of renowned such as composers��David Dzubay and Ryan Ingebritsen, and the chamber music group Elysian Trombone Consort.��

The festival will include the premier of “Sacred Art,” a collaborative piece by Boston playwright and UofL professor of composition , during the Faculty Chamber Music concert Nov. 6.��The two will also give a presentation about their collaboration before the concert at 7 p.m. in which Decker will perform selections of her monologues.��

, the festival’s headlining composer, is professor of music, chair of the composition department and director of the New Music Ensemble at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. He’s received numerous top fellowships and his music has been performed by orchestras, ensembles and soloists in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Mexico and Asia.

Dzubay took time out of his schedule to talk to UofL News about his work, why the New Music Festival is special and what audiences can expect.��

UofL News: We’ll have the chance to hear your work throughout the festival, including electronic and computer music on Tuesday, “Light Fantastick” for orchestra on Wednesday, contemporary choir music on Thursday and “Symphony No. 2” for wind ensemble on Friday. That’s such a diverse selection. What is the unifying element amongst all these pieces? What makes them all, different as they are, distinctly David Dzubay?

Dzubay: I suppose I’m the unifying element, as composer, but the works scheduled span a huge range of over 25 years, starting with��the early string quartet, “Threnody,” “HyPer MIX,” an electroacoustic piece written with my good friend James Aikman in college, and a brass fanfare I wrote on New Year’s eve to play with my best friend back in Portland out our front door at midnight(!); from there we work toward the present with middle pieces like “Footprints,” “Kukulkan III” and the choral works, up to the very recent “Symphony No. 2” for band. One thing in common with all these pieces musically is a focus on a central melodic thread leading a listener through the work.�� Many of the pieces also have a certain rhythmic energy and a rich harmonic palette.

UofL News: What do you think is most exciting about the New Music Festival?

Dzubay: I think it is incredibly impressive and forward-looking for the whole School of Music to work together on a celebration of new music. This sends such an important message to the students about music being a living, creative art form.

UofL News: You’ll be teaching too, while you’re here. What lessons do you hope to leave our students with in your short stay?

Dzubay: Knowing the composition faculty at UofL, I am aware that the students regularly get solid advice about their works.�� Nevertheless, it is often interesting for students to get an outside perspective, even if it simply reinforces the message. I look forward to seeing and hearing what the UofL composers are up to.������

UofL News: Anything else you’d like to share about the festival?��

Dzubay: It is humbling to have this prestigious school invite me as guest to their festival. I have had an occasional, yet, long relationship with Louisville, including having my first professional recording done there when Lawrence Leighton Smith recorded Snake Alley with the Louisville Orchestra in 1995.�� I very much look forward to the week.

See the detailed ��for all events, which are free and open to the public.

• Nov. 6, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall��
• Nov. 7, 8 p.m., Bird Recital Hall
• Nov. 8, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall��
• Nov. 9, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall��
• Nov. 10, 8 p.m., Comstock Concert Hall��

The 8:15 p.m. concert features School of Music faculty artists in both solo and chamber music ensemble performances and showcases new faculty.��

“It’s also the only concert that features so many performers, probably more than 20 of our performing faculty, and it’s great way to get to know a lot of folks,”��said School of Music Dean Christopher Doane.

For years, audiences streaming into Comstock Concert Hall for the Faculty Gala were greeted to the sounds of bagpipes by��Anne Marie de Zeeuw and Larry Frederiksen, and that tradition will continue. There will also be a pre-concert dinner hosted by the Friends of the School of Music at the University Club. for tickets.

As usual, the Faculty Gala serves as the gateway into the School of Music’s jam-packed year of performances, which includes world-class visiting artists along with student and faculty performances. Most of these events are free and open to the public.��

Check the for a full list. Highlights include:

• Sept. 14-17, annual .

• Sept. 24,��: Brittany MacWilliams, violin, Paul York, cello and Lee Luvisi, piano.

• Sept. 25,��, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist.

• Sept. 30,�� at Cherokee Park.

• Oct. 31, University Symphony Orchestra

• Nov. 6-10,��

The School of Music will also sponsor a series of free concerts at , 3640 River Park Drive, in West Louisville on weekends in September and early October. This concert series is a part of the School of Music’s Signature Partnership outreach.��

Sandwiched into the performance season are numerous workshops with dozens of middle and high school students studying music.

“We’re committed to our instructional work with students, and also our outreach and cultural mission for the region,” Doane said. “We’re off to a fast start, as always.”

“The New Music Festival is about continuing a culture of living music in our community and giving our students a great experience. Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez was chosen this year because his compositional work is highly creative and exciting, and the School of Music faculty anticipate the students will have an excellent experience working with him and performing his music,” said John Ritz, professor in the School of Music and festival organizer.

Faculty from the will also appear and present��the premiere of “Sound Spaces for Cervantes,” a cutting-edge performance of lights, sound and space at the Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium. The piece pays tribute to the life and works of Miguel de Cervantes, the pre-eminent Spanish novelist of “Don Quixote,” who died 400 years ago this year. Faculty from Castilla-La Mancha include composers��Julián Ávila��and��José Fayos, trumpeters��Manuel Blanco��and��José García,��cellist��Eduardo González,��percussionist��Miguel Orero��and clarinetist��Raúl Traver.

The University Wind Ensemble, directed by Frederick Speck, will perform the world premiere of Sanchez-Gutierrez’s piece “Ariles.” Other works by Sanchez-Gutierrez, who is professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, will be performed throughout the festival.

Sanchez-Gutierrez was born in Mexico City and has studied at the Peabody Conservatory, Yale and Princeton universities and Tanglewood Music Center. He’s highly decorated in his field with numerous awards, fellowships and residencies at international festivals.

In addition to taking part in nightly concerts, festival guests will��present master classes and lectures throughout the week. See the detailed ��for all events.��Admission is free and open to the public.

Wed., Nov. 9, 8 p.m. – Rauch Planetarium

Thurs., Nov. 10, 8 p.m. – Bird Recital Hall

Fri., Nov. 11, 8 p.m. – Comstock Concert Hall

Sat., Nov. 12, 3 p.m. – Comstock Concert Hall

Sat., Nov. 12, 8 p.m. – Comstock Concert Hall

Sun., Nov. 13, 3 p.m. – Comstock Concert Hall

Sun., Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m. – Comstock Concert Hall