As many of you know, Richard Lainhart passed away on
December 30, 2011. He was primarily known in his later days for his music composed with a Buchla 200e modular system and Haken Continuum. On July 7 & 8, 2012 he and Morton Subotnick's works will be featured in a concert and screening presented by Harvestworks, in association with ((audience)) and River-to-River Festival. A screening of the modular synthesizer documentary "I Dream of Wires" which features Richard will be held on July 8.
"A note from Caroline Meyers (Richard's wife).
'Richard would have been so honored to have his name linked to that of Morton Subotnick for this July 7th concert. He often spoke of his reverence and admiration for the composer's works and I believe Silver Apples of the Moon was the inspiration for Richard to begin his explorations in electronic music.
That he did not live to see this day pains my heart, but I hope that the occasion and the admission price will encourage you to mark your calendar and attend this concert in his name, and in celebration of electronic music from the master.'"
The events:
July 7, 2012, 7:30pm
Works by Morton Subotnick and Richard Lainhart Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts
Pace University
3 Spruce Street, NYC
Admission: FREE
On July 7, Source of Uncertainty II presents a premiere performance of Energy Shapes by Morton Subotnick and excerpts from his legendary album Silver Apples of the Moon.
The July 7th concert's opening feature is The Orchestra of the Damned, by the late Richard Lainhart (1953-2011). The Orchestra of the Damned is a quadraphonic tape-work for the Buchla 200e analog modular synthesizer.
As Richard introduced the first audition of the piece on MatrixSynth (www.matrixsynth.com) in 2007, he said: "Friends: just in time for Halloween, a new piece for Buchla 200e and Continuum - The Orchestra Of The Damned...I played this live entirely with the Continuum - no sequencing or multitracking involved. I hope you enjoy it." [
posted here]
In a review for Further Noise, Caleb Deupree says, "Orchestra of the Damned is cinematic with all of its texture changes, from sparse, quiet sounds to constant, siren drones, including a remarkable section reminiscent of the earliest electronic works from Cologne and Paris of the 1950s."
July 8, 2012, 6:00pm
Film screening of I Dream of Wires
including an interview with Richard Spectacle Theater
124 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn
Admission: $5
On July 8, ((audience)) will present a special screening of selections from I Dream of Wires, a forthcoming documentary on the modular synthesizer featuring interviews with manufacturers, collectors, designers and musicians.
The I Dream of Wires, screening will include an interview with Richard Lainhart.
Directed by Robert Fantinatto, I Dream of Wiresis a journey into the obscure but highly influential world of modular synthesizers. Learn how it revolutionized music from the pioneers that were there, why it quickly became obsolete, and how it has become all the rage again.
The film is currently in production; the directors will present a selection of raw footage and interviews. For more information, visit
http://idreamofwires.org/.
The evening will also include short films by Liz Wendelbo with soundtracks by her Brooklyn-based synthesizer band, Xeno & Oaklander."
"About Richard Lainhart
Richard Lainhart was a composer, performer, and filmmaker based in New York. He studied composition and electronic music techniques with Joel Chadabe, a pioneer of electronic music and the designer of the Coordinated Electronic Music System at one time the largest integrated Moog synthesizer system in the world. From 1987-1990, Lainhart was the Technical Director for Intelligent Music, developers of innovative computer music software like M, Jam Factory, and UpBeat.
His compositions have been performed in the US, England, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Recordings of his music have appeared on the Periodic Music, Vacant Lot, XI Records, ExOvo and Airglow Music labels and are distributed online via MusicZeit. As an active performer, Lainhart has appeared in public approximately 2000 times. Besides performing his own work, he has worked and performed with John Cage, David Tudor, Steve Reich, Phill Niblock, David Berhman, and Jordan Rudess, among many others. He has composed over 100 electronic and acoustic works, and has been making music for forty years. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Electronic Music Foundation to contribute a work to
New York Soundscape.
Lainhart's animations and short films have been shown in festivals in the US, Canada, Germany, and Korea, and online at ResFest, The New Venue, The Bitscreen, and Streaming Cinema 2.0. His film "A Haiku Setting" won awards in several categories at the 2002 International Festival of Cinema and Technology in Toronto. In 2008, he was awarded a Film & Media grant by the New York State Council on the Arts for "No Other Time", full-length intermedia performance designed for a large reverberant space, combining live analog electronics with four-channel playback, and high-definition computer-animated film projection."
