Celebrating Jean-Claude Risset (1938-2016)

The Gassmann Electronic Music Series presents Celebrating Jean-Claude Risset (1938-2016), a concert commemorating the work of an electronic music pioneer. French composer and computer music pioneer Jean-Claude Risset, who passed away this past year, will be memorialized with performances of his music, discussion of the significance of his work, and the California premiere of compositions in his honor by UCI professors Mari Kimura and Christopher Dobrian. The event will be held Friday November 17, 2017 at 8:00 pm in Winifred Smith Hall, in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine. The concert is free; no ticket is required.

In the 1960s Risset was a pioneering researcher in the use of computers to analyze and synthesize musical sounds, and he was one of the first composers to use digitally synthesized sounds in his compositions. Trained in both science and music, he was a student of André Jolivet, a composer of both instrumental and computer music, a professor at the University of Aix-Marseille, and director of the laboratory of mechanics and acoustics at the National Center for Scientific Research in Marseille.

His friends at UCI, music professors Mari Kimura and Christopher Dobrian, along with student performers Yihui Liu and Jared Davenport, will perform several of his compositions for instruments and computers, will describe some of the technical innovations for which he is credited, and will present two new pieces composed in his memory.

For more information, press photos, etc., you can email dobrian@uci.edu, or phone (949) 824-7288.

http://music.arts.uci.edu/dobrian/gemseries/gemseries17-18.htm#risset