Music in the Fault Zone: Darius Milhaud / Roscoe Mitchell
Mills Music Now
Thursday, April 21, 2022 | 8:00 PM PDT
Presented by Mills College Music Department and Center for Contemporary Music
The evening concert features orchestral music by Darius Milhaud and Milhaud Professor Roscoe Mitchell conducted by Nicole Paiement and Steed Cowart.
Milhaud was a member of the Mills faculty from 1940 to 1971. His compositions during early 20th century included experiments with “noise,” polytonality, and appropriations from cross-cultural sources such as American jazz. L’homme et son desir (1917–18) and La création du monde, Op. 81 (1923) are among his most “radical” works.
The second half of the concert features music by composer/multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell (Milhaud Professor of Music, 2007–18), who was among the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Mitchell’s music eliminates the traditional separation of “composer” and “performer” by integrating improvisation and composition, a hybrid creative practice illustrated by two orchestral works and a duo for violin and piano.