Hearne, White to perform as ‘R We Who R We'

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Award-winning composer/singer Ted Hearne and electronic musician Philip White will perform their collaborative project “R We Who R We” at 8 p.m. March 15 at the Clazel Theatre, 127 N Main St. in downtown Bowling Green. A $2-$5 donation is suggested.

The duo appears as part of the Music at the Forefront concert series sponsored by Bowling Green State University’s MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music. R Who We R We takes apart identity in pop music, dissecting songs by Michael Jackson, Ke$ha, Eminem and others and subjecting their lyrics and sound to arbitrary processes, creating new musical structures completely derived from — but completely unrecognizable as — their original pop song sources.

Hearne is a composer, conductor and performer conversant in both new and traditional classical music. As comfortable in operatic and orchestral works as he is in rock and choral music, his compositions are socially engaging, exploring the complexity of contemporary experience with visceral power and raw emotional beauty. His “Katrina Ballads,” a modern-day oratorio, offers a searing portrayal of the media's take on Hurricane Katrina. “Katrina Ballads” was awarded the 2009 Gaudeamus International Composers Award from Music Center the Netherlands, and the recording, on New Amsterdam Records, was named one of the best classical albums of 2010 by Time Out Chicago and The Washington Post. Hearne is the artistic director of Yes Is a World, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting peace and social change through music; resident conductor of Red Light New Music, and was for five years composer-in-residence of the Chicago Children's Choir.

White’s performances center on a nonlinear feedback system consisting of a mixer and several homemade circuits. In addition to his work with analog and digital electronics, he has written extensively for chamber ensembles and created a large body of intermedia pieces that explore meaning in information transmission. The artist-in-residence at Harvestworks, a nonprofit digital media arts and resource center, he has received grants from Meet The Composer and Electronic Music Foundation and is a frequent performer with other experimental musicians.

Music at the Forefront is an annual concert series featuring performances by accomplished and innovative performers of contemporary music. For more information, contact the center at 419-372-2685 or email kdoles@bgsu.edu.

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(Posted March 01, 2012 )