"Imaginary Skin" by Sylvan Talavera // Robert Meese, conductor // University Philharmonia Orch.

University Philharmonia Orchestra
A
n Evening of World Premieres

Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Hill Auditorium

Imaginary Skin
Sylvan Talavera, composer
Robert Meese, conductor

(0:00) Introduction
(1:07) Performance

Imaginary Skin concerns scrying, a form of perception or meditation in which a person uses a physically intense or dense object in order to evoke messages or meaning. In more popular culture, crystal ball gazing could be considered a form of scrying, although people more often use black mirrors, flames, and mirrors in dark rooms. One could also use non-optical forms of stimulation, such as harsh noise walls, intense cold or heat, or spice. A person’s brain uses this object a means to project subconscious messages or communication, mental liquids that either cannot be understood through thought or ones that require the dissolving of the internal/ external boundary, some thoughts require imaginary skin, the safety of retaining your person- hood while eliminating the physical boundaries that inhibit some forms of understanding.

SYLVAN TALAVERA is a composer and improviser from Rio Nido, CA, and Portland, OR currently in his fourth year of studying composition at the University of Michigan. He most often composes and performs on either percussion or electronics, with a number of other instruments such as piano and guitar peppered into those processes, as well as leaves, trees, cameras and other organic and fabricated materials that are not primarily intended for sound production. He’s most interested in using sound to explore the density of consequences that objects hold, chaos magic, sense of self, and anxiety.

ROBERT MEESE is a Master’s student at the University of Michigan where he studies Or- chestral Conducting with Kenneth Kiesler. Robert is the Assistant Music Director of the Michigan Pops Orchestra and Assistant Conductor and Manager of the Campus Symphony Orchestra. Robert has previously studied with Christian Măcelaru, Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novo, Grant Cooper, and Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant.
Robert graduated from Duke University with Highest Distinction, having earned the Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music. During his time at Duke, his artistic study was supported by the Undergraduate Research Support Office and the Benenson Award in the Arts, and he led the Duke Chamber Players as Artistic Director, the Duke Symphony as Presi- dent, and the Duke Waltz Orchestra as Principal Conductor. The culmination of Robert’s un- dergraduate studies featured performances of Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6, and his own arrangement of Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, op. 15.

Видео "Imaginary Skin" by Sylvan Talavera // Robert Meese, conductor // University Philharmonia Orch. канала University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance