New Music Ensemble to play tonight

The Jacobs School of Music’s New Music Ensemble, under the direction of David Dzubay with guest composer Sebastian Currier will perform its first show of the year  at 7 tonight at Auer Hall.

The ensemble of about 20 students will perform one of Currier’s works, “Bodymusic.”
Created in 2009, the work is divided into 16 movements all related to something about the human body.

“It’s very interesting because it combines recorded sounds played through an audio system surrounding the audience with sounds from the musicians on stage,” said Dzubay, a professor of music and composition department chair at Jacobs.

The New Music Ensemble, which Dzubay has directed since 1992, tends to play more recent music.

“It’s mostly music by living composers, and they are often present at the concert,” he said.

When the ensemble performs a piece by a student or staff member, the work is typically recorded for release.

The second piece that will be performed at the concert is Eric Lindsay’s “Icarus,” which will be recorded following its Thursday premiere.

Lindsay said the context of the work came from transitions he faced in his own life after completing his doctorate in composition.

It got him thinking about the inconsistencies of all the goals people set in their life.

“We’re always dealing with innovations and changes in the world,” he said. “It seems like we’re constantly reassessing and repositioning ourselves.”

In order to capture the noise of all of these events, Lindsay composed a piece that has several pulses going on simultaneously at various layers of speed, which he said creates distinct overlaps.

“The focus is on how these different layers reconcile themselves when they’re all playing at once,” Lindsay said.

At one point, there are five strands of speeds going at the same time.

“It creates a delightful noise that all hangs together,” Lindsay said.

With its distinct and complicated nature and no previous recording for the ensemble to listen to, Lindsay said “Icarus” is not an easy piece to learn.

“They are doing a fantastic job bringing it to life even though it engages styles that most of the players aren’t familiar with,” he said.

Dzubay also complimented the students who will play at Thursday’s performance.

“The musicianship they play is at a really high level,” he said.

Follow reporter Rachel Osman on Twitter @rachosman.