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Machover hyperviolin concerto gets Boston premiere

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) will present the Boston premiere of Professor Tod Machover's hyperviolin concerto, Forever and Ever, with soloist Ani Kavafian on Saturday, May 17 at 8pm at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough St., Boston).

Forever and Ever is the third piece in Professor Machover's Hyperstring Trilogy, loosely based on Dante's Divine Comedy. Professor Machover, who began working with hyperinstruments in 1986, incorporates computer-generated sound using artificial intelligence, MIDI and Macintosh computers to expand the capabilities of violin, viola and cello.

The piece reveals "the fine, lace-like patterns at the core of Machover's musical structures. Its artistic and technological influence could be profound," wrote USA Today's David Patrick Stearns of the 1996 Lincoln Center Festival concert, at which the entire trilogy was peformed for the first time on a single program.

The BMOP concert titled "Interface: The Influence of Technology in 20th Century Music" features another technologically inspired instrument--the theremin--in addition to the hyperviolin. The BMOP (Gil Rose, music director) will also present the world premiere of Lydia Kavina's The Seasons of the Year: Concerto-Fantasy for Theremin and Orchestra with the composer as soloist; Octandre by Edgard Varese; the Boston premiere of Bohuslav Martinu's Fantasy for Theremin, Oboe Strings and Piano; and the Boston premiere of Ross Lee Finney's Three Pieces for Strings, Winds, Percussion and Tape.

Preceding the concert at 7pm, Lydia Kavina will give a free lecture/demonstration of the theremin entitled "With a Wave of the Hand." Tickets, which are $16 general admission, $8 for students and seniors, may be obtained by calling the BMOP ticket line at 273-9494 or by visiting the Jordan Hall box office.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 14, 1997.

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