"Mass" Debuts at Bennington College

April 21, 2006

Bennington College music faculty member and critically acclaimed composer Nick Brooke will have his most recent composition, Mass performed on Friday, April 28, at 8:00 pm & 10:00 pm, and Saturday, April 29, 2006, at 8:00 pm, in the College’s Margot Tenney Theater located in the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) center. This event is free and open to the public but requires reservations at 802-440-4572 prior to performances.

Mass samples modern recordings gathered from contemporary pop radio songs, and uses elaborate sound-mixing techniques to produce a 30-minute-long collage of sound samples. Mass borrows from the so-called “parody” Masses of the 16th century by reworking pop tunes heard over the last 30 years, creating a somewhat secular service based on remembered ephemera of U.S. pop culture. Four students, collaboratively trained by drama faculty member, Jenny Rohn and Brooke, will reflect the sound of original recordings, while they synch their movements and voices to the composition and form an entirely new variety of musical theater.

Brooke, who holds an undergraduate degree from Oberlin in philosophy and music composition, and a PhD from Princeton, composes pieces that reflect his interests in the history of technology and cultural philosophy, developing new paths for compositions first seen in his groundbreaking Tone Test¯ a chamber piece for two singers and a phonograph based on the Edison tone tests of the 1910s and 1920s that launched his work into new territory in 2004 with a performance at Lincoln Center. “You know someone else has come up with a truly interesting idea when you’re shocked no one else has already done it,” composer and Princeton music professor, Steven Mackey explained of Brooke’s work.

Brooke’s compositions are created for a variety of musical media from orchestras to computers, to hand built instruments. He has received awards and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Rockefeller Foundation, and the MacDowell Colony.

For reservations, please call 802-440-4572.