Glimmer
Jason Freeman
About this work:
Glimmer engages the concert audience as musical collaborators who do not just listen to the performance but actively shape it. Each audience member is given a battery-operated light stick which he or she waves back and forth over the course of the piece. Computer software analyzes live video of the audience and sends instructions to each musician via multi-colored lights mounted on each player’s stand.
Glimmer was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Steven Sloane, music director, Robert Beaser, artistic director, Dennis Russell Davies, conductor laureate. This work was funded in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center.
Additional thanks to the Columbia University Computer Music Center (Brad Garton, director) and Akademie Schloss Solitude (Jean-Baptiste Joly, director).
Glimmer exists in two versions: for 25-player chamber orchestra and approximately 600 audience members; or for 16-player string orchestra and approximately 200 audience members.
This work was performed by American Composers Orchestra and is included on NewMusicJukebox through a partnership between AMC and ACO.
Year composed: 2004
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Standard Orchestra
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet, 1 Bassoon, 1 Horn in F, 1 Trumpet, 1 Trombone, 1 Tuba, 1 Strings (General)
Instrumentation notes: audience participation