| David Bithell |
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Experimental Music Theater
Compositions
Below I have highlighted some recent
works exploring the space between music, theater, and performance art.
| Whistle From Above
for two percussionists, robotic instruments, and computer sound (in
progress). |
 |
Actors as much as
percussionists, the two performers negotiate a
complicated terrain of technology all the while being prompted and
provoked by forces outside their own control. This new piece will
be performed early in the new year by Russell Greenberg and Ian
Antonio's percussion duo "Hunter/Gatherer". The work takes its title from
a stage direction in Samuel Beckett's "Act Without Words".
|
| View
the "Whistle from Above" resource page
(.html)
|
| the eye [unblinking] for six performers with computer controlled lighting. |
 |
Composed in the Spring of 2007,
the eye (unblinking)
explores my ongoing fascination with the possible connections between
the visual and the audible. Each performer is individually lit by
a single spotlight that is able to be dimmed in precise synchronization
with the music. Musical and theatrical gestures are linked,
highlighted, and suppressed by the presence or absence of light.
the eye (unblinking) was premiered
by the sfSoundGroup on June 24th, 2007 at the ODC Theater in San
Francisco.
The creation of this work was supported, in part, by a Faculty Research Grant from the University of North Texas. Important aspects of the technological realization of this work rely on the "tempocurver" tools developed at UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT). |
| See more images | View
the score
(.pdf)
Watch the premier
of the
eye (unblinking) Read my Program
Note |
| Pandora's Hope performance/installation for computer synchronized wooden boxes (in progress). |
 |
This work explores the physical
spatialization of sounds generated through a field of 8 computer
controlled wooden boxes. The performer and the audience may
interact with the sounds, redirecting pathways and complex patterns of
physically actuated sound within the boxes. The title comes from a collection of essays by the French sociologist Bruno Latour. In this collection he writes, "When a machine runs efficiently, when a matter of fact is settled, one need focus only on its inputs and outputs and not on its internal complexity. Thus, paradoxically, the more science and technology succeed, the more opaque and obscure they become." |
| Read
the full description (.pdf)
|
| The President Has His Photograph Taken for trumpet, video, and electronic sound. |
 |
This piece takes its title and
loose inspiration from the 1928 Kurt Weill opera "Der Zar lässt sich Photographieren",
in which a monarch with a slightly different title than mine goes about
his self-absorbed ways having his photograph taken -- oblivious to a
terrorist plot against his life. I was interested in creating a piece that deals with illusion on multiple levels and that replicates the very private mental world that we create when we think we are alone (itself a kind of illusion). The piece was premiered at the IS ARTI festival in Kaunas, Lithuania in November 2005. I have subsequently performed it on the sfSoundSeries, at the University of the Pacific, and at the 2006 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) at Tulane University. |
| See
more images |
Watch the piece (.mov) |
| Lumen for trumpet, assistants, four percussionists, and live electronic sound. |
 |
Lumen is an evening-length
experimental music theater work inspired by Javanese Shadow Play and
the language of silent cinema. Lumen: Prelude was premiered on
the Strictly Ballroom Series, Stanford University, April 2004.
Lumen: Aria was premiered at UC Berkeley, May 2004.
The complete work was premiered
on the sfSoundSeries at the ODC Theater, San Francisco, January
2005. Performers were: David Bithell (trumpet), Chris Burns and
Matt Ingalls (assistants), Pauline Jennings and Angelina Nicole
(dancers), Eliot Bates, Sara Gambin, Andrej Hronco, and Christina
Sunardi (Javanese percussion), Aaron Schmookler (direction), Ellie
Leonhardt (technical assistant).
|
| See more images | View
the score
(.pdf)
Listen
to Lumen:Aria
(8:29 ~7.7MB)
Read
Reviews |
| Situations [plural/fixed] for trumpet, two trombones, slide projection, and live electronic sound. |
 |
Composed in 2003 and premiered
on the MANCA Festival in
Nice, France under the auspices of the France/Berkeley
Fund and with the support of UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and
Audio Technologies (CNMAT) and
the Centre National de
Création Musicale (CIRM)
in Nice. First
performance with David Bithell (trumpet), Philippe Renault and Barrie
Webb
(trombones).
Subsequent performance on the sfSoundSeries February 7th, 2004 with David Bithell (trumpet), Tom Yoder and Toyoji Tomita (trombones). Version for solo trumpet and electronics premiered on Stanford's Strictly Ballroom Series April 15th, 2004. |
| See more images | View
the score
(.pdf)
Listen (.mp3)
– 16.4 megabytes |
| Table Setting for two performers. |
|
Composed in 2002 and premiered
at UC Berkeley's Center for New
Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) by David Bithell
and Ali Momeni.
|
|
| See more images | Watch
the piece (.mov)
Watch Ali's 3min Remix (.mov) |
| Symbols for two performers with turkish finger cymbals. |
|
Composed in 2002 and premiered
at UC Berkeley's Center for New
Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) by David Bithell
and Ali Momeni.
|
|
| See more images | Watch the piece (.mov) View the Score (.pdf) |
| B(all)AD e for two performers with small percussion instruments. |
 |
Composed in 1999 and premiered
on the Berkeley Noon Concert Series,
Fall 2003. Performed by David Bithell and Tim O'Keefe. |
| See more images | View
the
score
Watch the piece (.mov) |
Experimental
Music Theater Compositions
Instrumental Music Compositions
Transcriptions and Arrangements
List of selected compositions (.pdf)
Instrumental Music Compositions
Transcriptions and Arrangements
List of selected compositions (.pdf)