A concert program of animated short films with music written and performed by Eastman School of Music students and faculty will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 5, in Room 415 (rehearsal room) in the Eastman East Wing.
“Im-Pulse Image Percussion” features the Eastman Percussion Ensemble and Professor of Percussion Michael Burritt performing new works to accompany short animated features produced by filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute in the 1930s and new films created by Rochester-based filmmaker Stephanie Maxwell. The program is a project of the University of Rochester’s UCIS (University Committee for Interdisciplinary Studies) Cluster on Music and Film and was curated by Reinhild Steingröver, chair of Eastman’s Humanities Department.
Bute was a pioneer American film animator and one of the first female experimental filmmakers. Her specialty was visual music, and she made several short, abstract films for which she originally chose classical music accompaniment by such composers as Bach.
The second half of the program features Maxwell’s film Ocean, a dramatic work of light and motion filmed around the beaches of Newport, Ore., and with music by Eastman alumna Michaela Eremiášová. Ocean will be followed by the premiere of a new film by Maxwell created to accompany the live performance of Burritt’s Marimba Quartet.
Maxwell is an award-winning filmmaker who teaches a wide range of courses in film, video, and animation at Rochester Institute of Technology.
“Im-Pulse Image Percussion” will also include performances of music by contemporary composers Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, and John Cage. The concert is free and open to the public.
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Calendar Listing:
Saturday, April 5
“Im-Pulse Image Percussion.” A concert program of short films accompanied by newly composed works.
7 p.m.
Room 415, Rehearsal Hall, Eastman East Wing, 433 East Main St.
Free