Basinski To Be Featured at Eclectic, Offbeat 2008 UNC Greensboro New Music Festival

BUFFALO, N.Y. – "City of Webs," a composition by University at Buffalo Music Department alumnus Alejandro Rutty (Ph.D., 2002) based on a text of the same title by Michael Basinski, Ph.D., curator of the UB Poetry Collection, will make its premiere as part of "Unimaginable Music & Unruly Artists," the 2008 New Music Festival to be presented by the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, School of Music Oct. 28-30.

As part of the annual festival, Basinski, described by the festival director as "an iconic poet, sound-text and visual artist who engages in mesmerizing transformations of language," will deliver a reading from one of his other works of poetry at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 in 217 Collins Lecture Hall on the Greensboro campus, followed by a performance of Rutty's composition of "City of Webs."

That poem is one that can be entered by the reader at any point and exited at any point, because the author eschews virtually all traditional poetic practices, including standard use of language, and is intended for spontaneous performance.

On Oct. 30, Basinski will participate in a 5 p.m. roundtable discussion with artists and critics about issues of text, music improvisation and visual art in the UNC School of Music Recital Hall.

This will be followed by a reception and a 7 p.m. concert performed by several musicians, including an improvisational piece featuring work by digital artist and designer Seth Ellis and narrated by Basinski.

Basinski has long been involved in writing experimental literary work, including visual poetry and performance art that weaves literature, visual art and new music into compositions marked by a unique and eccentric use of language and unusual virtuosity. He teaches poetry at UB. More on his work can be found at the UB Electronic Poetry Center, http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/basinski/.

Born in Argentina, Rutty's output includes orchestral, chamber and mixed-media music, arrangements of Argentine traditional music, and innovative outreach musical projects. His work has been performed by orchestras in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, and his recordings are available on Capstone Records, Arizona University Recordings and ERM Media.