MIT's CAST Welcomes Cellist Maya Beiser as Inaugural Mellon Distinguished Visiting Artist

MIT has announced cellist Maya Beiser as the inaugural Mellon Distinguished Visiting Artist, a new artist residency endowed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that has supported MIT's Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) since its inception in 2012.

Key to Beiser's residency is the opportunity to explore MIT's unparalleled resources across disciplines and embrace its extensive creative community to push the boundaries of her artistic practice. As part of her residency, Beiser will conduct master classes with students, and collaborate with MIT's distinguished faculty on three original performances as part of MIT Sounding, a new concert series curated by CAST's Director Evan Ziporyn that integrates traditional instruments and sounds with pioneering technologies to present genre defying music.

Beiser's first concert on March 3 will feature a new arrangement of David Bowie's Blackstar by Evan Ziporyn composed specially for Beiser in harmony with the Ambient Orchestra.

Her second performance on April 22 will activate self-assembling structures by Skylar Tibbits, the Co-Director of MIT's Self Assembly Lab, and mark the conclusion of CAST's two-day symposium "Being Material." This performance will pay tribute to the late composer Pauline Oliveros, a central figure in experimental and post-war electronic art music, and innovator of "Deep Listening."

Beiser's residency will culminate in the fall with a performance celebrating the centennial of the composer Lou Harrison's birth. For this performance, Beiser will collaborate with Gamelan Galak Tika, Sarah Cahill and Evan Ziporyn on a composition to premiere at the concert.

"It is such a great honor to be coming to MIT, a remarkable institution where creativity and innovation are so vividly celebrated across all disciplines -- art, music, science, and technology -- in a way that aligns perfectly with my own artistic values and pursuit and with what I am exploring in my art," Beiser said. "I look forward to meaningful collaboration with MIT's faculty and students as we embark together on what I know will be a memorable and influential year. I am grateful to the Mellon Foundation for recognizing the importance of bringing independent artists, such as myself, into the academic environment."

"Maya's entire career has been about expanding the idea of what it means to be a 'classical' musician, and a cellist," said Evan Ziporyn Professor MIT Music Theater Arts and Faculty Director of CAST. "She approaches performance with rigor but also with risk, openness, and joy. She's not afraid of what she doesn't know, and she's not afraid to ask questions or approach absolutely anyone - exhibiting a vibrant intellectual curiosity that is fundamental to the character of MIT. So I think it's a perfect fit."

A key part of MIT CAST's artist residencies is the opportunity for artists to experiment and explore new technologies that stretch the boundaries of their respective practices. During her time at MIT, Beiser will research, exchange ideas and collaborate with Evan Ziporyn Professor MIT Music Theater Arts and Faculty Director of CAST, Skylar Tibbits co-director of the MIT Self-Assembly Lab and Assistant Professor in the department of Architecture, and Eran Egozy of the MIT Music Technology Lab, as well as with students in classes and workshops integrating music, technology, and film.

Beiser is a classical cellist that reimagines the traditional concert experience and creates new music for the cello. She has collaborated with acclaimed composers including Louis Andrissen, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov and Michael Gordon, among others.

Additional details on each of Besier's residency performances follow below.

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CONCERTS BY MAYA BEISER: INAUGURAL MELLON DISTINGUISHED VISITING
ARTIST AT THE MIT CENTER FOR ART, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Second AnnuAl Terry and Rick Stone Concert

David Bowie's Blackstar

March 3, 2017 / 7:30 pm

MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/blackstar-featuring-maya-beiser-tickets-31124825190

The first performance will feature a new arrangement by CAST Faculty Director Evan Ziporyn of Blackstar, David Bowie's 25th and last album. Beiser will perform this cello concerto with a 60-piece orchestra in the second annuAl Terry and Rick Stone Concert in the MIT Sounding series. The program will also include a new arrangement of Erik Satie's 80 Gymnopedies and Ziporyn's Frog's Eye. During this concert, a new app, NoteStream, a Real-Time Program Note Service, will be available for the first time. The app is being developed at the MIT Music Technology Lab, led by professor Eran Egozy, MIT alumnus and founder of Harmonix, the creator of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, in collaboration with MIT students. NoteStream provides audience members with rich media (text, images, animations) delivered to their mobile phones at precisely timed moments during the live performance. Through this smartphone app's real time streaming of engaging images and facts about the performance, first-time listeners can receive guided messages that help them focus their attention on musically important moments and experienced listeners can gain new insights into familiar works and can follow along to excerpts from the music score.

CAST Symposium "Being Material" Audible Concert

April 22, 2017 / 8:00 pm

MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Tickets: arts.mit.edu/events-visit/symposia/being-material

In April 2017, Beiser will return to MIT to perform as part of the concert "Audible" that concludes the MIT CAST Symposium "Being Material" April 22. The concert will include Beiser and other musicians wearing sensors as they perform a tribute to the late composer Pauline Oliveros, a pioneer of electronic music. The sound of Beiser's cello in this concert will stimulate self assembling materials developed by Skylar Tibbits, assistant professor of architecture and Co-Director director of the MIT Self-Assembly Lab.

Concert with Gamelan Galak Tika, Gamelan Si Betty, Sarah Cahill & Evan Ziporyn

Fall 2017

Tickets and more information coming soon

The culmination of the residency will include a final concert in the fall which celebrates the centennial of Lou Harrison's birth and will include Beiser on cello in collaboration with performers playing Lou Harrison's famed Gamelan Si Betty and Old Granddad #4 Gamelan. Musicians from the group Gamelan Galak Tika, pianist Sarah Cahill & Evan Ziporyn will perform and Ziporyn will compose a new work to premiere at this concert.