With these concerts, it's not just a matter of setting up chairs and music stands. Just ask Tracey Scholtemeyer, the department's director of production, who's in charge of scheduling events. Things that you thought were going to happen will turn out completely differently. What's important is full artistic expression and creativity. There are very intelligent people around here who are passionate about the work that they are creating.
Music is such a personal thing.
It takes a lot for artists on the cutting edge to put forth their most personal thoughts and feelings. Directed by faculty member Charles Curtis, the event features university musicians playing non-traditionally notated scores by such venturesome composers as Alvin Lucier and La Monte Young in locations around the campus. Yet the music department has more serious challenges, such as vying with rival institutions for professors. It recently lost composer Brian Ferneyhough, one of its most brilliant faculty members, to Stanford. There's no way we can compete.