Vicky Chow: “Surface Image” by Tristan Perich

“One of our era’s most brilliant pianists” – Pitchfork

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“I am interested in the threshold between the abstract world of computation and the physical world around us. Scored for traditional instrumentation combined with on-stage speakers, my compositions with 1-bit electronics are duets between musicians and code, exploring an interest in foundations of electronic sound. The simplest electronic tones can be created by sending on and off pulses of electricity to a speaker, creating an oscillation at the desired pitch. These pulses are represented digitally in binary as 1-bit information, where a 1 or 0 signifies the corresponding electrical state. When working with 1-bit waveforms, data is equivalent to sound; no higher-level translation is needed.

Surface Image, for solo piano with 40-channel 1-bit electronics was commissioned by Vicky Chow. The hour-long work sets the piano in front of a backdrop of 40 speakers, each connected to custom electronics that perform 40 individual lines of music. My first instrument was the piano, and it introduced me to composing. For as long as I can remember, I have been attracted to its sound, its physical presence, its construction. In the piano’s keys and event-based sound-making mechanism I find a connection to computer code and the foundations of mathematics. And to match its immense sound, the piano demands (especially with Vicky playing it) a massive scale of electronics. In Surface Image, working with so many speakers let me explore a dense and precise polyphony, thinking about the ways acoustic piano and electronic sound can find company in each other. But writing for the piano again also opened up a more intuitive side of my music, a muscle-memory or ingrained musical sense that traces back to when I first started playing.”

-Tristan Perich

This concert is a co-production with CAP UCLA. 

Vicky Chow, piano

Hong Kong/Canadian/American pianist Vicky Chow has been described as “brilliant” (New York Times) and “one of our era’s most brilliant pianists” (Pitchfork). Since joining the Bang on a Can All-Stars in 2009, she has collaborated and worked with artists including Tania León, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, George Lewis, John Zorn, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Alarm Will Sound, International Contemporary Ensemble, Wild Up, Tyshawn Sorey,  John Zorn, and Kronos Quartet among others.

She has toured more than 40 countries and released over 25 solo and chamber albums on various labels. Her album Tristan Perich: Surface Image released in 2013 on New Amsterdam Records was among the top 10 Avant Music albums in Rolling Stone. Her recordings can be found on Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Tzadik, and Innova, among others.
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Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she is based in Brooklyn, NY. She serves as faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, the Nief-Norf Summer Festival, and has been on faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She is on the Board of Advisors for Composers Now, and is also a mentor at The Juilliard School. A graduate of The Juilliard School (B.M. ’05, M.M. ’07 Piano Performance) and The Manhattan School of Music (M.M. Contemporary Performance ’09) Ms. Chow is a Yamaha Artist.

Tristan Perich‘s work is inspired by the aesthetic simplicity of math, physics and code. The Wire magazine describes his compositions as “austere meeting of electronic and organic.” 1-Bit Music, his 2004 release, was the first album ever released as a microchip, programmed to synthesize his electronic composition live. His follow-up circuit album, 1-Bit Symphony, has received critical acclaim, called “sublime” (New York Press), and the Wall Street Journal said, “its oscillations have an intense, hypnotic force and a surprising emotional depth.” The New York Times called his latest circuit album, Noise Patterns, “techno for silicon-based life forms.” As an electronic musician, he has performed internationally, from Sónar, MUTEK, and the Barbican, to Lampo and The Kitchen. As a composer, he has received commissions from So Percussion, the LA Philharmonic, Calder Quartet and more, as well as an award of distinction from Ars Electronica for his work for violins and 1-bit electronics, Active Field. The New York Classical Review wrote, “More than any composer of his generation, Perich is establishing a new language and a new future path for music.” As a visual artist, his audio installations, video works and machine drawings have received commissions from the likes of Rhizome and L’Auditori in Barcelona, and his artwork has been exhibited internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, VOLT Festival, the San Diego Museum, the Georgia Museum, and bitforms gallery.

“Vicky Chow and The Satie Project concerts are being ticketed through those venues, please see event page for ordering options.”