UA’s Sonic Frontiers Concert Series Presents ‘3 Views of Viola’

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers Series presents violists LaDonna Smith, Jessica Pavone and Wendy Richman in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, in the Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room, 600 Greensboro Ave.

This free concert features three world-class performers of the viola, an often misunderstood “workhorse” instrument of the  orchestra. The program is titled “Three Views of Viola.”

LaDonna Smith, a Birmingham-based improviser, will perform her solo music for voice and viola. Smith, a founding figure of “free improvisation” in the United States, has been on the international new music scene for more than 30 years and has created her own style of improvisation.

Alternating between classical and extended techniques, she explores her  instrument, painting sound pictures as she plays. She has  performed at major improvisation and new music festivals, and her travels have taken her to the former USSR, Siberia and Japan. Her music is documented on dozens of CD and LP recordings.

Jessica Pavone, a composer-performer based in New York, will perform her music for solo viola, voice and electronics. Her music reveals an interest in repetition, song form, understated melodies and sympathetic vibration. Pavone has performed in many improvisation, avant  jazz, experimental, folk, soul and chamber ensembles since moving to New York in 2000.

She plays with the band Normal Love in a duo with guitarist Mary Halvorson, with Anthony Braxton’s ensembles and as a solo artist. As a composer, The Wire magazine praised her “ability to transform a naked tonal gesture into something special,” and The New York Times has described her music as “distinct and beguiling . . . its core is steely, and its execution clear.”

Wendy Richman will perform works for solo viola and voice by Salvatore Sciarrino and Giacinto  Scelsi. Richman has performed across the United States and Europe, receiving praise for her  “absorbing,” “fresh and idiomatic” interpretations with a “brawny vitality” (The New York Times,  The Washington Post).

Her notable solo and chamber music appearances include the international festivals of Berlin, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Helsinki; New York’s Mostly Mozart Festivals as well as Lincoln Center and the Guggenheim Museum; and the American Academy in Rome. Richman is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, a New York-based collective of 35 leading instrumentalists uniting new music and new audiences.

Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series of innovative and experimental music that enriches the cultural life of West Alabama and invites creative exchange among world-class performers of adventurous music, students and the greater community through public performances and lively post-concert discussions. All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public.

This event is sponsored by The University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music and Creative Campus. For more information, phone 205/348-9928 or visit: http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu.

Up next for Sonic Frontiers: Outsider artist Lonnie Holley will perform his music for voice and electronic keyboards, surrounded by an exhibit of his art and new pieces by UA students responding to his work. The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, in the Paul R. Jones Gallery, 2308 Sixth St. in Tuscaloosa.