The Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance in collaboration with Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project is proud to present Direct Current, a concert of exciting electro-acoustic music from Kansas City and around the globe. The concert features Eric Honour on saxophone and Lizz Hougland on violin.
Date: Friday, March 9 featuring Eric Honour and Lizz Hougland
Times: Doors at 7:30pm, Show at 8pm
Venue: La Esquina/ 1000 West 25th St KCMO 64108
Admission: $10, students $5
The Pieces
Eric Honour, who was featured on KcEMA’s November concert at Unity Temple on the Plaza, will perform two works for saxophone and electronics. Paul Leary’s Number Stations draws its title and inspiration from short waver radio stations that broadcast series of letters and numbers but have no station identification. Topeka native Andrew Walters’ Pushing Buttons is a playful piece billed as a duet between the saxophone and the electronics.
Lizz Hougland will also bring two pieces to life. In her own Lost Reflections, the electronics are produced in realtime, derived from the violin performance. The result is a harmonic image, or reflection, of the live performer. Also featuring violin and electronics, Hong Kong-born Chin Ting “Patrick” Chan’s Katachi II uses the concept of stone formation in the Japanese game Go (and its Chinese predecessor Weiqi) to derive its musical structure.
In addition to the pieces involving live performance, Direct Current features three fixed media pieces. Maggi Payne’s Liquid Amber focuses on sonic textures set to images of nature or that illustrate nature’s effect on man-made objects, such as an old ship. Suspended Edges, a collaboration between sound artist, Monty Adkins, and multimedia artist, Oliver Jones. Inspired by the urban explorers movement, a movement that seeks the unexpected and unexplored in our everyday urban environment, Jones set out to capture such places around Huddersfield in the UK. He then went on further to create new digital lifeforms evolving in these hidden spaces. Greek composer Panayiotis Kokoras’ Construct Synthesis rounds out the program, presenting in fixed media a piece created by seven different robotic generators working from nearly 1200 audio samples.
The Performers
Eric Honour has developed an international reputation as an artist devoted to exploring and furthering the intersections of music and technology. His work as a saxophonist and composer has been featured in numerous international conferences and festivals like ICMC, Spark, FEMF, BEAF, EMM, and others. A member of the Athens Saxophone Quartet, he performs regularly in Europe and the United States, and has presented lectures and masterclasses at many leading institutions, including the Conservatorio di Perugia, Hogeschool Gent Conservatorium, Northwestern University, and the University of Oklahoma.
Lizz Hougland is a composer, violinist and violist currentlyresiding in Kansas City, Missouri. Lizz also enjoys being a part of the production team for Kansas City Electronic Music Arts Alliance (KcEMA). Lizz has had works recorded by the Kansas City Chorale, Quadrivium, a Kansas City-based ensemble, and NewEar. As a performer, Lizz has played in groups such as Musica Nova and has performed at conferences such as Electronic Music Midwest (EMM) and Exchange of Midwest Collegiate Composers (EMCC). Lizz currently studies music composition at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC).
