Brenda Hutchinson's How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? (For Five Pianos and CD Players) Slated for Wednesday, April 14, 8 P.M. in Warner Concert Hall
			There seems to be a credo at Oberlin that if it's worth doing, it's worth doing with music. And if it's worth doing with one piano, then why not five? Brenda Hutchinson, in a guest residency recital with students of professor of composition Pauline Oliveros, will put that theory to a test when her epic composition How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall? is performed with numerous pianos and CD players. The Composition Seminar students scheduled to perform include sophomore Du Yun, junior David Wright, junior Yvan Greenberg, junior Robert Reich, double degree sophomore Margot Bevington, double degree junior Kate Shorb, senior William Stevens, double degree senior Jarred McAdams, and sophomore Corey Dargel. The piece developed when composer Hutchinson packed her piano into the back of a U-Haul truck and drove 6,300 miles from New York City to San Francisco. Along the way, she invited people to play the piano and tell piano stories, which she recorded. This edited material - created from more than two hundred performances and anecdotes - comprises half of the score to her piece. The rest of the score instructs the performers how to interact with the recordings. This allows the live pianists and the people on the recordings to play together, drawing on personal memories and personal histories to create a poignant and often amusing composite portrait of America musical life. "Many people have played the piano at some point in their lives, and some of them have gone on to professional music careers as performers, educators, composers, etc.," Hutchinson says. "Most people, however, have either continued to play solely for their own enjoyment, or they haven't touched the instrument in years. I wanted to explore the relationship that many people have with the piano and the role this instrument has played in their lives, so when I was asked to write a piano piece, I went out to find piano players." Hutchinson received a Meet The Composer/Reader's Digest Commissioning grant to create the composition for piano and tape. When completed, it will be performed at the Corn Palace in Minnesota and the World Music Institute as part of the "Interpretations" series in New York City. She received an NEA Radio Production grant through Harvestworks for a new work, Every Dream Has Its Number. A live version has been performed with Nancy Zendora's dance company.
			Back to the Backstage Pass