Robert Ceely (1930-2015) founded the electronic music studio at New England Conservatory. In 2019, the NEC electronic music studio will be dedicated to the memory of its founder, and commemorated with a concert of students and alumni of the studio.
The electronic music studio, currently run by John Mallia, was a pivotal part of musical education during and after grad school. Neal Markowski and I will perform a new piece on this concert.
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Tonight's event celebrates the life and music of NEC alum, former faculty and founder of the NEC Electronic Music Studio, Robert Ceely. Ceely passed away in 2015, and the studio had since been renamed the Robert Ceely Electronic Music Studio, in his honor.
Under the artistic direction of John Mallia, NEC composition faculty and current chair of the Robert Ceely Electronic Music Department, both NEC alumni and current students compose and perform works for the celebration.
The program will feature a performance of Robert Ceely’s Synoecy (1986) for clarinet and tape by Stephanie Key ’92, Director, Soli Chamber Ensemble, along with five commissioned works by recent alumni composers including a collaborative piece for live electronics by Beth McDonald ’11 MM and Neal Markowski ‘13; an acousmatic composition by Caroline Park ’08, ’10 MM; a piano/electronics work by Quentin Tschoefen ‘17; and a guitar/electronics composition by Dan VanHassel ‘07.
The concert will also showcase electronic miniatures, sometimes in combination with acoustic instruments, by current students Fernando Allendes, Isaac Blumfield, Ari Brown, Christian Cahill, Yanqi Chen, Stephen Jackson, Robin Meeker-Cummings, Kimmie Phan Stattman, Nyhta Taguchi, Christopher Vu, Tianyi Wang, Hua Xin, and Ni Zheng.
The event is made possible by the Robert Ceely Electronic Music Studio Fund.