OPEN SPACE: FOCUS ON DAVID BEHRMAN

OPEN SPACE: FOCUS ON DAVID BEHRMANis a tribute and an opportunity to revisit a wide range of works from Behrman's musical career, underlining some of his past and current collaborations.

Most of his compositions feature flexible structures and the use of technology in personal ways; they rely on interactive real-time relationships with imaginative performers. “I've wanted to make works that have personalities, which remain distinct and recognizable, yet are open to surprising changes that can come about when they are performed or exhibited. I've liked the idea of being a designer of situations rather than of fixed pieces.” – David Behrman

Programme:

Saturday, November 27

16:00 – Films: Meringue Diplomacy by Terri Hanlon, Cascade by Robert Watts, Cloud Music (Documentation Excerpt) by Robert Watts/David Behrman/Bob Diamond

17:30 – Concert: View Finder, Figure in a Clearing and On the Other Ocean, by David Behrman feat. ars ad hoc ensemble

Sunday, November 28

16:00 – Talk: David Behrman and Terri Hanlon, moderated by Isilda Sanches

17:30 – Concert: Open Space, by David Behrman feat. ars ad hoc ensemble

18:00 – Concert: Okkyung Lee and David Behrman – elements growing out of the course of their past performances together.

David Behrman is a leading figure in music and experimental sound, active since the 1960s. He is responsible for major contributions in the fields of composition with electronics, interactive and real-time use of technology in live performances and the creation of sound and multimedia installations. He is also a recognized and exemplary artist when it comes to collaborative work, not only in the field of music, but also across disciplinary fields, counting among his peers John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Watts or Fellini. During the 1960s and 1970s, he assisted John Cage and David Tudor with several projects. Also in the 1960s, Behrman initiated an extensive association with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, creating music for several repertory dances, from Walkaround Time (1968) to EyeSpace (2007) and, in 2004, he became a member of the music committee, which oversaw music issues during the last years before the company’s extinction. Behrman was an important producer who, while working at Columbia Records was responsible for many of the Music of Our Time series of new music recordings, including works by influential composers such as Cage, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros and the first recording of Terry Riley's In C. 

In 1966, Behrman co-founded with Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma the Sonic Arts Union, a collective who played a decisive for the development of the culture of musical experimentation in the United States, pioneering many practices that have become commonplace today.

“Artists of my generation who have worked selectively with technology are veterans of explosive change. Tools and techniques that we have learned to use have been rapidly made obsolete and been replaced by others. Now that we are deep within the twenty-first century, it seems more urgent than ever to seek fruitful balances between elements from the past and present and from the natural and high-tech worlds.”

– David Behrman