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New Music Festival Turns 15

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“Sound, Healing and Light: Ancient and Contemporary Practices” is the theme of the Feb. 24-28 15th annual New Music Festival at Meng Concert Hall.

“Every year the festival focuses on a new theme in contemporary music and brings premiere artists to Cal State Fullerton’s School of Music. Our mission is to share this artistic talent and exploration with our student community and beyond,” says Pamela Madsen, professor of music and the festival’s artistic director.

This year’s program features Kathleen Supové and her “exploding piano” performance, which combines music with theatrical elements, video and even choreography (8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25); contemporary music quartet Loadbang (8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26); cellist/composer Dominique de Williencourt, who joins Divan Consort and the CSUF Music Ensemble (8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24); and the world premiere of Madsen’s “Luminous Etudes: Visions of the Black Madonna of Montserrat” (8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27), which investigates biomechanics and vibro-acoustics through piano, electronics, voice and projected images, and which garnered the music professor a New Music USA Projects Grants Award.

Clayes Performing Arts Center’s Recital Hall will welcome the “Composer-Performer Symposium and World Electroacoustic Listening Room Project” (10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27) — free workshops and demonstrations with artists and performers exploring new themes in music and collaboration. Among this year’s sessions is a performance of postmodern dance pioneer Anna Halprin’s “Planetary Dance” by Lisa D. Long, associate professor of art.

Additional event and ticket information is available on the festival’s website.