Electric guitar quartet kicks off contemporary music festival

KALAMAZOO—Dither, a New York based electric guitar quartet, will kick off the School of Music’s New Sounds Festival 2013 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall at Western Michigan University. The concert is free and open to the public. The program will include a movement from “Cross-Sections: Four Pieces for Electric Guitar Quartet” by WMU Assistant Professor of Composition Lisa R. Coons.

Dither electric guitar quartet

Dither is dedicated to an eclectic mix of experimental repertoire spanning composed music, improvisation and electronic manipulation. Formed in 2007, the quartet has performed in the U.S. and abroad, presenting new and original compositions, improvisations, multimedia works and large guitar ensemble pieces. With sounds ranging from clean pop textures to heavily processed noise, and from tight rhythmic unity to cacophonous sound mass, all of Dither’s music embraces the beautiful, engulfing and often gloriously loud sound of electric guitars. Members include Taylor Levine, Joshua Lopes, James Moore and Gyan Riley. For this performance, Nick Didkovsky of Dr. Nerve will sub for Lopes.

For more information visit ditherquartet.com.

New Sounds Festival

The New Sounds Festival celebrates contemporary music, and continues through Friday, April 5 with a variety of events, including the Electronic Music Midwest Mini-Festival, and concerts by the International Contemporary Ensemble and composer Kyong Mee Choi. Visit wmich.edu/composition/New-Sounds-Festival/NSF.html for the full event schedule.

For more information, contact the School of Music at (269) 387-4678.