Alvin Curran - Beams
At last, we welcome this true pioneer to OUT.FEST, carrying with him an idiosyncratic baggage of more than 200 works, and his defiant and democratic approach to music, in true alignment with the ethos of the festival and the city itself. Born in Providence, USA, the composer, improviser and performer has been living in Rome for decades, and there he started his revolutionary trajectory when he co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva in 1966; the group’s radical approach and innovations were, at the time, cause for riots. Under those guiding principles of constant (re)invention of new shapes and approaches, embedded with a particular sense of humor and with a sense of community, Curran has been steadily producing works that go from chamber music to large ensembles, from radio pieces to solo performances employing conventional and invented instruments, voice, electronics, found objects and field recordings, finding liberated and egalitarian shapes for technology. Sound as life and/or vice-versa, felt in such pieces like ‘Natural History’, ‘Inner Cities’ or ‘Maritime Rites’. At this year’s festival, Curran will present ‘BEAMS’, a piece for more than 20 musicians, on this occasion from a number of Barreiro’s music schools.