the bird:

terri hron: recorders
the flock: 9 composers in surround

In 2006, I began working with composers to develop new works for recorder and live electronics. My goal was to drop the instrument into as many of the exciting currents of real-time processing as possible. Each composer provided a different challenge, but drew inspiration from the unique way I play and use my instruments.
The result, Bird on a Wire, was an exciting and varied programme where everything from renaissance chanson to the honking horns of Manhattan floated by. Juan and I premièred the new show at the University of Alberta in October 2008 and then toured across North America. I recorded all the new pieces at The Banff Centre for the Bird on a Wire album released in 2009.

The next phase of the project was to dive into multi-channel diffusion. For the new show, flocking patterns, I commissioned nine pieces that explore interactivity in a ‘surround’, eight-channel environment.

Although this is a solo project, I envisage the new pieces to be trios between my acoustic sound, the loudspeakers and the space. The nature of interaction is at the core of my investigation: which direction is the sound travelling, in our hearing and in space? who/what is controlling whom? what are the flyways and feedback loops?

The composer line-up:

Daniel Blake (USA)
Jorrit Dijkstra (NL/USA)
Jenny Olivia Johnson (USA)
Emilie LeBel (Canada)
Paula Matthusen (USA)
Darren Miller (Canada)
Robert Normandeau (Canada)
Elliott Sharp (USA)
Hildegard Westerkamp (Canada)

I have been generously supported in the project by the Alberta Creative Development Initiative and the New Music Project Grant section of: