Victor Zheng

I wrote Tempest of Glass as my dissertation piece for my DMA. My dissertation research centered on the interaction of a human performer and live electronics and how that relationship can define form. Naturally, for the accompanying piece, I decided to try and break my own categorization by using the Disklavier: an acoustic instrument but powered mechanically by the computer, hence not quite human nor electronic (acoustic fixed media, maybe?). I accompanied the Disklavier with traditional live electronics by two microphones live processing the piano sound.

The gestures played by the Disklavier as well as the electronic effects are all algorithmically generated and incorporating controlled variation, so that each gesture is recognizable but subtly different with each rendering of the work.

Algorithmic gestures and live electronics rendered in SuperCollider.

Performances:

• 21 September 2023 – Jinan, China as guest speaker at Shandong University of Arts