Alarm Will Sound Brings 1969 to Eastman

Описание: Alarm Will Sound is the kind ensemble that eschews labels and defies definition. As their managing director Gavin Chuck puts it when asked what kind of music they play, he often says simply "we play good music". Whether you call the music that they play classical or new music or avant-garde, the members of this eclectic group devote most of their energy in trying to find projects they find exciting with the hope that in the process they engage their audience and put on a good show.

Although the 20 members of the group are scattered around the country, most of them got their start in one spot: the Eastman School of Music. The group was formed there around 2001 after they had spent a few years working together on a student run orchestra and decided to take that experience with them beyond their time at Eastman. As they have continued on with successful music careers in cities from New York to Chicago to San Francisco, they have continued to keep this collective alive by gathering in a different city every month or so to put on concerts.

Each time, the program is the same. Members fly into a city from all over the country, rehearse the material for a few days, play the show and then head their separate ways until the next gig. Despite this itinerant schedule, the formula seems to work. More than a decade after its founding, Alarm Will Sound is still as vibrant as ever.

When the invitation was extended for them to return to Rochester to play a show at Eastman, they didn't hesitate to accept. What they brought was much more than just a concert, but an experience for audiences that included not only music from the popular to the obscure, but also a theatrically staged narrative, large video screens with vivid imagery and plenty of action. It's a show they call 1969, and it brings together the music and culture of that time in American history to tell a story with an approach that is decidedly original. From the life and music of John Lennon, to experimental composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio to Richard Nixon and Jimi Hendrix's electrified version of the Star Spangled Banner, 1969 covers a vast array, and in a way that's anything but the typical concert going experience.