CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra will premiere two works on Friday by composer Michael Udow, a U. of I. alumnus, including a composition that accompanies a film.
Symphony orchestra director Donald Schleicher was looking for a multimedia orchestral piece to perform. Udow wrote the music for “Abyss of Time,” a 24-minute film by visual artist Rita Blitt. The film and music represent the concept of geologic time, juxtaposed with the time human beings have existed on Earth. Udow and Blitt will be at the performance and will participate in a question-and-answer discussion following the concert.
“I think it’s a work of genius to put the two together,” Schleicher said of writing the orchestra piece for the film.
The University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra will premiere a work by composer and U. of I. alumnus Michael Udow that accompanies a film, “Abyss of Time,” by artist Rita Blitt. The concert will be a visual experience, with the film to be shown on a large screen behind the orchestra in Foellinger Great Hall in Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
Udow – who received the first doctorate in percussion given by the U. of I., was principal percussionist for the Santa Fe Orchestra for more than 40 years and is retired from the University of Michigan – has worked with Blitt several times, on projects with film and music and also on sculpture with sound incorporated into them. He proposed this project to Blitt after he photographed geological formations in Colorado, China and Hawaii. He provided his photographs to Blitt and suggested she create new works of art or find existing works that related to the theme. She created a 24-minute film of the artwork and Udow set it to music.
Udow was initially commissioned to compose a piece of music for a Chinese chamber music group that plays traditional Chinese instruments. He proposed the work incorporate the film, and the original version of “Abyss of Time” premiered at a festival in Beijing.
“I thought it was a shame the work would never be performed in this country because we don’t play those instruments, so I composed a work for Western instruments,” Udow said. “I really approached it as a new work with some fresh ideas in terms of orchestration. I didn’t try to make the Western orchestra sound like a Chinese orchestra.”
Although it is a new piece, Schleicher said its sound still retains an Asian influence.
Friday’s performance of “Abyss of Time” with the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra will be the premiere of the new orchestration of the music. The symphony orchestra performs at 7:30 p.m. in Foellinger Great Hall at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
“It’s very unusual to have a film with music in that setting in the Great Hall,” Schleicher said.
He’ll be wearing a headset so he can hear the “click track” for the film, telling him when the image on the screen changes, “so the timing between the film and music is perfect.”
The symphony orchestra will premiere another piece by Udow – “Stepping Stones,” written this year. Udow wrote it in honor of two former students who married each other. He asked them to send him melodies they remember from childhood, and he used those songs as an impetus for the composition.
“I was using hints of the melodic material and harmony to create my own composition that would resonate for them as having the sensibility of their childhood,” Udow said.
The symphony orchestra will also perform Mozart’s Overture to “La Clemenza di Tito” and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring pianist Muen Wei, a U. of I. student and winner of the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition.
Udow is giving guest lectures to composers, percussionists and a graduate orchestral conducting program at the U. of I. this week, as well as working with the symphony during its rehearsals.
Editor’s notes: To reach Donald Schleicher, email schlchr@illinois.edu.
For information about tickets to the concert, go to krannercenter.com.
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