Sound and silence are allies in the minimal yet intricate music of Lou Bunk. In both his acoustic and electro-acoustic music, timbre unfolds alongside harmony, while extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and a rejection of the virtuosic paints an alien and sometimes barren soundscape.
A native of the Connecticut suburbs, Lou’s earliest compositions were noise improvisations, and four-track collage experiments. Educated at Washington University (MA Composition) and Brandeis University (completing a PhD in Composition and Theory), he has studied music composition with such diverse composers as Eric Chasalow, Michael Tenzer, David Rakowski, Ladislav Kubik, Marty Boykan, and Yehudi Wyner. At Brandeis, he was Assistant Director of the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (2001-2003), and Director of the New Music Brandeis concert series for the 2002-2003 concert season. This year Lou is teaching electronic music and running the studio at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire. He is also teaching ear training at Boston Conservatory.
Lou’s music is the recipient of several awards (SEAMUS Student Commission Competition, finalist, Irving Fine Fellowship for Music Composition, ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award, finalist), and has been performed in dozens of venues, in the US and Europe; CCRMA, SEAMUS, June in Buffalo, The Computer Arts Festival in Padova, Italy, an American Composers series in Trossingen, Germany, and the Zeitgeist Gallery. This fall, “Being and Becoming”, for bass clarinet, will be performed in New York and Boston. Some current projects include a new piece for solo piano, Sound design for the American Repertory Theatre, a dissertation on the music of Morton Feldman, teaching electronic music, and a rock and roll band called Shana's Mango!.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Computer geeks and no sex
I don’t really have anything intellectual to say today because doing parts has lobotomized my higher thinking, but I did write some great nonsense. Recently I built a computer. I won’t go into the detailed specs (though I really want to), but it was the first one I ever built, and it actually works. It really isn’t that hard, just plug the motherboard into the cpu and connect all the cables from the board to the case. Oh btw, I got a case that is sooooo quiet! Only 80 bucks! Anyway, my well intentioned future brother in law Rob was telling me about a computer game that he plays called Warcraft. Oh NO! Not another distraction. But of course, after thinking about it for a day and a half and being completely frustrated doing parts this week, and being really excited about my new super fast computer. I went out and bought the game. Not only is Warcraft a potential distraction from doing parts and writing my dissertation, it is the height of geekdom with it wizards and quests and hi tech graphics of sexy elvin babes. I hope Emily will still want to hang out with me. Derek Hurst is one of my closest friends and he called today wanting to use my parking pass from Boston Conservatory. They don’t give him a pass at Berklee and so he ends up paying $30 a day to park. What the hell is he thinking? Just take the bus dude. I would let him use my pass, but they check that. I almost got towed last semester because I kept parking in the spot the Dean likes to use, or so said the security guard. Appearently I had my sticker in the wrong spot and the dean thought that some local looser in an 89 hyndia was squating in his favorite spot. Anyway, I told Derek that I started a blog and expressed to him how I thought it was a healthy, though self indulgent, thing to do. He thinks that it is not healthy, and that I am a poopy head. That’s my paraphrase. To me doing a blog is little like going to therapy. Maybe I will post the question to the folks.
posted by Lou Bunk
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