Audiovisual Performance
Course Description
The unification of music and visual arts has been attempted throughout history, opera being one example. In the 20th Century, sounds and moving images have been syncretized in various art forms, such as film or video art, as well as in popular culture (television, music video, the Internet, etc.). Today, with fast technological developments and the convenience of hardware/software tools, media artists employ both sonic and visual elements in their performance practice. What are the interrelations between music, video, and themselves as performers?
Students will perform with music and video in synergy. The course explores various theories and practices of engaging audiovisual media in the context of stage performance. Examples come from the scenes of experimental music and multimedia performance. Other audiovisual categories to be approached: avant-garde film, visual music, video art, music video, etc. Readings, listening-viewings, discussions, and analyses of relevant works will provide a conceptual framework. Labs and assignments will give students hands-on experience in crafting and performing their own audiovisual works. The course culminates with a public show.
Meet the Instructor
Constantin Basica
Constantin Basica is a Romanian composer living in the San Francisco Bay Area, whose current work focuses on symbiotic interrelations between music, video, and performers. His portfolio includes pieces for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra, electronics, and video. His works have been performed in Europe, North America, and Asia by artists and ensembles such as Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble Liminar, ELISION Ensemble, Distractfold, Mocrep, JACK Quartet, Spektral Quartet, kallisti, RAGE Thormbones, line upon line, Retro Disco, Fresh Squeezed Opera, Séverine Ballon, Tony Arnold, Karen Bentley Pollick, and Olga Berar. Among the festivals and conferences that have featured his works are the MATA Festival (NY), Currents New Media Festival (NM), the International Week of New Music (RO), InnerSound New Arts Festival (RO), the International Festival for Video Art and Visual Music (MX), Aveiro Síntese Biennale for Electroacoustic Music (PT), Eureka! Musical Minds of California (CA), the 2017 and 2018 International Computer Music Conference (CN and KR) and the 2016 Sound and Music Computing Conference (DE). He received the ICMA Award for Best Submission from Europe at the 42nd ICMC in Shanghai (CN).
Constantin earned a DMA in Composition at Stanford University under the guidance of Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Brian Ferneyhough, Mark Applebaum, and Erik Ulman. He holds an MA degree in Multimedia Composition from the University of Music and Theater Hamburg (DE) and two BA degrees in Composition and Conducting from the National University of Music Bucharest (RO).
As an educator, Constantin has taught courses and workshops at Stanford University, Escuela Superior de Música in Mexico City, the 2016 Sound and Music Computing Summer School in Hamburg, and the George Enescu National College of Music in Bucharest. He is the recipient of the 2018 Carolyn Applebaum Memorial Prize and the 2015 Chair’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Department of Music at Stanford University.
Currently, Constantin is a postdoctoral scholar, lecturer, and the concert coordinator at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).