George Lewis Visits Oberlin as Part of International Contemporary Ensemble Residency

Pioneering composer, musicologist, and trombonist George Lewis, whose career includes many connections to Oberlin, will return to campus for a series of residency events on February 26 and 27. Lewis’ appearance is part of the conservatory’s two-year partnership with the International Contemporary Ensemble, which he has directed since 2022.

The Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University, Lewis focuses on experimental music, interactive computer music, and improvisation, and on how those areas intersect with race, gender, and decolonization. His accomplishments have earned him membership in organizations like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as honorary degrees from prestigious institutions such as Oberlin and the University of Edinburgh.

On February 26 and 27, Lewis will present a guest lecture and lead a panel discussion on improvisation with Associate Professor of Jazz Voice La Tanya Hall and Associate Professor of Contemporary Music and Improvisation Dana Jessen. His talks will focus on the technical and societal implications of artificial intelligence in music.

“These issues involve the production of human-machine socialities, and even more crucially, an exploration of what it means to be human, a topic that I feel we can delve into at length at Oberlin,” Lewis says.

From 2013–14, Lewis served as the conservatory’s composer-in-residence, working closely with students and Conductor Tim Weiss. The Contemporary Music Ensemble premiered his piece Flux as part of those activities. During his upcoming visit, the Oberlin Sinfonietta will perform his piece Arcades along with Tyshawn Sorey’s For George Lewis.

“I am looking forward to how the students and faculty perform Arcades, which is a very different kind of work that does not require a conductor,” Lewis says. “The students use the work’s tools to create a version that reflects who they are as individuals and as an ensemble.”

Weiss says he looks forward to conducting For George Lewis, a one-hour work that Sorey dedicated to one of his composing mentors. “Like a well-tended garden, its long form slowly morphs from a restrained, muted quietude into a gorgeous fabric of color and harmony where fragrant melodies are slowly spun,” Weiss says.

Lewis assumed the position of artistic director of the International Contemporary Ensemble in 2022, succeeding percussionist Ross Karre ’05, who stepped down to take a faculty position at Oberlin. The ensemble was cofounded and led for years by flutist Claire Chase ’01.

On April 10, the International Contemporary Ensemble will perform a side-by-side concert with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, their second year doing so. Their program, Composing While Black: Volume II, references a term created by Lewis and Harald Kisiedu as the title for their 2023 book.

The Composing While Black book and concept “showcase Afrodiasporic contemporary and experimental music as an international, intercultural, and intergenerational space of innovation,” Lewis says. The concept “has now been taken up by ensembles and even major orchestras in Europe and the U.S., positioning Oberlin College as an early adopter and a source of innovation itself.”