NuMusWes24: A Composer's Convection

NuMusWes24 evolved out of a desire to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts and to bring together different generations of Wesleyan composers. So the event had elements of reunion and retrospection, but also of convection where old friends met and new friends were made, where old pieces were played and new music was discovered.

This celebration served to reflect on what Experimental Music at Wesleyan has been and what it might become. In this way, its goals were the same as the "oral examinations" composers endure when they complete their study and, indeed, gave those composers a chance to return the favor by giving the overall program an oral exam of its own.

The reunion extended from Friday, May 10, 2024 at 4pm to Sunday, May 12, 2024 at 4pm. Installations and exhibitions were presented in Olin Memorial Library throughout the weekend. Friday late afternoon and evening featured performances of works by returning alumni. On Saturday, three sound installations were presented from 8am to midnight. A series of talks and discussions were given throughout the day together with a midday tele-performance by alumni gathering at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany. Saturday evening featured an elaborated reconstruction of "An Evening with John Cage," a concert presented in 1974 as part of the opening year of the Center for the Arts. Sunday featured a panel on how these compositional ideas reach into public education, work with the disabled, and the practical teaching found in help lines. The last event in the symposium was an open discussion of the event. A concluding performance featured projects developed in the Student Forum on Disengineering.  

John Cage had a significant impact on the figures who played central roles in the development of Experimental Music at Wesleyan: Richard K. Winslow, Jon K. Barlow, Neely Bruce, and Alvin Lucier. Later, Anthony Braxton joined the faculty in 1990 with written support from both John Cage and Chick Corea. The Wesleyan World Music program was founded on the belief that all of the world's musics warrant close study. Professor Braxton's example extended this credo to the recognition that composed and improvised musical forms are deeply entangled and not fully distinguishable. To celebrate these connections and their impact, the concert featured the original program from 1974 intertwined with pieces by and for those figures.

Check for upcoming "NuMusWes24" events.