Experimental Music at the Smart with Will Myers and Jonathan Gardner
An afternoon of in-gallery performances by UChicago composers Will Myers and Jonathan Gardner that encourage audiences to find new ways to move through art and sonic spaces.
These performances were commissioned for the Chicago presentation of Solidary & Solitary by the Smart Museum’s Student Advisory Committee.
FREE, open to all.
Schedule
Five Studies and a Postlude
1 pm
Performed within the exhibition Solidary and Solitary, this composition juxtaposes large-scale, abstract visual art pieces with smaller, delicate sounds of a solo viola, played and composed for the Smart Museum by Will Myers. Premiere performance.
Rivmic Conversation
1:30 pm
In-gallery performance of Rivmic Conversation by Jonathan Gardner and Botany Pond (Jimi Hanley, Sam Jacobson, and HArlan Lewis). Responding to artworks by Jennie C. Jones, Rivmic Conversation presents hyper-focused rhythmic fragments within an electric band texture.
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS and Performers
Will Myers writes music that is concerned with memory and fragility, as well as the agency, labor, consent, and physicality of the performer(s). His work has been performed by Yarn/Wire, Spektral Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, Vertixe Sonora, [Switch~ Ensemble], pianists Daniel Pesca and John McDonald, and conductors Gil Rose, John Page, and Lio Kuokman. His first orchestral piece, Bright Shadows, won New England Conservatory’s inaugural orchestral composition competition in 2013 and was premiered in Jordan Hall. Will is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago and holds degrees from New England Conservatory and Tufts University in composition, music theory, and cognitive science. He has studied composition with Augusta Read Thomas, Sam Pluta, Anthony Cheung, Marta Ptaszyńska, Kati Agócs, John Heiss, and John McDonald. Will is also a conductor, violist, and violinist. He served as assistant conductor and principal violist of the Tufts University orchestras from 2013 to 2015, and has premiered works by many composers as a conductor and a performer. As a violist and arranger, he is half of the video game music cover duo Frog & Cid, whose debut album Boss Chamber Music was released in 2016.
Jonathan Gardner is a Music Composition major in the College, writes songs and pieces, and plays cello in the Jazz X-Tet under director Mwata Bowden. His interests include Black music, Brazilian popular music, and walking.
Jimi Hanley is an MA student in the Social Sciences, where he is composing a thesis on the military-academic-industrial complex. His favorite activities include tuning in, turning up, going out and getting down. He would like to thank his mother for everything.
Sam Jacobson is a Chemistry major and Physics minor in the College, hailing from London, England. He contributes to a variety of Chicago groups, drumming for Dirt Red Brass Band and the up-and-coming indie artist Jakob Leventhal, who released his debut album in February of this year. Sam also enjoys acting, tap dancing, soccer and basketball.
Harlan Lewis is an anthropology major in the College. He is interested in avant-garde jazz and Renaissance improvisation. He plays steel-pan in the Jazz X-Tet and period instruments in the Early Music Ensemble directed by Craig Trompeter.