Facing the Automaton
A concerto for solo percussion, interactive kinetic sculpture and chamber ensemble
Music by Tamar Muskal Sculpture by Daniel Rozin
"Facing the Automaton, a chamber concerto for percussion soloist with music by Tamar Muskal and a kinetic "wooden mirror" sculpture by Daniel Rozin was really the highpoint of the 2021 performances I offered. Tamar's score is colorful, evocative, rhythmic, and often very beautiful. It also pushes the soloist to the extremes of acrobatic playing! The co-related component of Rozin's sculpture is simultaneously entertaining and haunting. As a performer, to see one's gestures reflected and expanded by Danny's mirror invites an internal reflection on the nature of percussion playing, and even on what it means to give a concert. The combination of music and visuals makes this piece unlike any other I have ever played. It was fabulous!" percussionist-soloist Steve Schick 2021
On Facing the Automaton
Facing the Automaton is Tamar-Muskal’s groundbreaking percussion concerto for solo percussion, kinetic sculpture (Daniel Rozin’s “Wooden Mirror”), and chamber ensemble. This is Muskal’s second collaboration with Rozin. At the core of their shared interest is the investigation of the relationship between sound and visuals Harnessing the Wooden Mirror's ability to interact with the performer and produce percussive sounds while creating complex visuals, Muskal employs the sculpture as an instrument as well as an autonomous player; hence the title Facing the Automaton premiered at the La Jolla SummerFest in 2021 with soloist Steve Schick.
Facing the Automaton is comprised of three movements:
● a traditional percussion concerto utilizing a wide gamut of orchestral percussion instruments in conversation with the ensemble
● introduces the Wooden Mirror, first as a kinetic interactive sculpture and progressively as a sound producing rhythmic instrument.
● integrates the Wooden Mirror as an autonomous instrument that joins the ensemble in complex conversations
Throughout the piece the audience’s attention can drift between concentrating on the undulating visual pattern of the Wooden Mirror and focusing on the sounds and rhythms it produces This duality is in the essence of the piece and is the core of Muskal and Rozin’s interest in this combined media
Instrumentation: clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello and contrabass
Duration: 23’
Technical requirements:
The Wooden Mirror is a self supported sculpture that ships with its own base
Lighting requirements: a few directional lights from above
Electric requirements: one 110/220 volt 15A outlet,
Amplification: contact and directional microphones and feedback suppression optional
Headsets for all performers for clicktrack
Score: https://drive google com/file/d/1 WcfJog5zBec9UZ4uV ZaE6Xh6tnzAmC/view?usp=sharing
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSi0anJcxU
Performance history:
La Jolla SummerFest - July 2021 - premiere Breckenridge International Festival of Arts - July 2022
Daniel Rozin Wooden Mirror 1999/2014
The Wooden Mirror:
Description: 768 square pieces of wood, 768 servo motors, control electronics, video camera, computer and wood frame.
Size - W 67” x H 80” x D 10” (170cm , 203cm, 25cm)
Originally built in 1999 and updated in 2014 this is Rozin’s first mechanical mirror. This sculpture explores the line between digital and physical, using a warm and natural material such as wood to portray the abstract notion of digital pixels The sculpture reflects any object or person in front of it, by organizing the wooden pieces in real time The non-reflective surfaces of the wood are able to create an image via the computer manipulating the tiles to cast back different amounts of light as they tilt toward or away from the light source.
Tamar
Muskal Composer
“Classical music doesn’t get better than this” declares the NY Times about Guggenheim Fellow Tamar Muskal’s music Born and raised in Israel and currently living in the United States, Muskal composes music which harmonizes the unique cultural aspects of both places Her music is shaped around contrapuntal interaction, carefully structured and with great attention for details
Muskal’s music has been performed by the Jerusalem Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Richard Stolzman, Borromeo String Quartet, Colorado String Quartet, Steve Schick, Music From Copland House, Eighth Blackbird, Ethos Percussion Group, and many others.
A strong interest for incorporating interactive art into her composition has led to multiple collaborations with artist Daniel Rozin; together they created Mirrors, a piece for Eighth Blackbird with interactive digital and live videos; Facing the Automaton, a concerto for Steve Schick and the La Jolla SummerFest players for solo percussion, interactive kinetic sculpture and ensemble; and they are currently working on a piece for solo soprano, interactive kinetic sculpture and orchestra for the American Composers Orchestra.
From 2002-2005 Muskal was Composer-in-Residence of the education division with the Westchester Philharmonic. In that capacity she wrote pieces for narrator and orchestra based on poems and drawings by children from Westchester schools.
Muskal is also active as a film composer. She writes music for historic black and white silent films and documentaries. Her music is featured in DVD collections of historic films by women, including: The Sewer, La Glu, and Falling Leaves, released by Kino Classics
A recipient of various awards and grants, Muskal has been honored with the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and four awards from Yale School of Music, among others; and grants from numerous organizations including the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, Opera America, Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer, New Music USA, ASCAP and the American Composers Forum.
Recent and future commissions and collaborations include an opera with director-librettist Daniel Kramer (former artistic director of the English National Opera), a flute concerto for the Symphonova, incidental music for a play directed by Elena Araoz, an oratorio with the Israeli librettist Michael Gurevitch, and music for a graphic novel by Stavit Allweis
Tamar attended the Yale School of Music, the city University of New York and the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance
Daniel Rozin
Interactive-digital artist
For nearly three decades, Daniel Rozin’s practice has investigated the structure and materiality of images From mosaics to digital images comprising pixels, discrete components are assembled to make a whole Employing a range of materials––from trash to hand fans––Rozin probes at what constitutes an image, as well as what can be transformed into one.
Rozin’s interactive installations and sculptures integrate the viewer, in real time, to create a representation of the viewer’s likeness in the object His kinetic “mirrors” are often made with materials that become unexpectedly “reflective,” responding to a person ’ s presence via a camera and physical computing or custom software. Reflection and surface transformation become a means to explore human behavior, representation, and perception
Past exhibitions of his work include the Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid, Spain; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; The Garage CCC, Moscow, Russia; NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan; The Israel Museum, Israel, Jerusalem; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England; Taiwan National Museum of Fine Art, Taichung, Taiwan; Barbican Centre, London, England; CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada; Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, TX; Katonah Museum of Art, New York, NY; ICA Portland, Portland, ME; the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museums, Beijing, China; Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL; the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; and the Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT
Awards include the Prix Ars Electronica, I D Design Review, Chrysler Design Award, and the Rothschild Prize.
Rozin is an Arts Professor in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University’s Tisch School Of The Arts He earned a BD at the Jerusalem Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and an MPS from NYU
Praises for Facing the Automaton:
”Facing the Automaton” stands out above other SummerFest commissions in its synergistic merger of art, music and technology.”
Christian Hertzogwriter of the San Diego Union-Tribune, 2021
"Facing the Automaton, a chamber concerto for percussion soloist with music by Tamar Muskal and a kinetic "wooden mirror" sculpture by Daniel Rozin was really the highpoint of the 2021 performances I offered. Tamar's score is colorful, evocative, rhythmic, and often very beautiful. It also pushes the soloist to the extremes of acrobatic playing! The co-related component of Rozin's sculpture is simultaneously entertaining and haunting. As a performer, to see one's gestures reflected and expanded by Danny's mirror invites an internal reflection on the nature of percussion playing, and even on what it means to give a concert. The combination of music and visuals makes this piece unlike any other I have ever played. It was fabulous!"
percussionist-soloist Steve Schick 2021
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