Alvin Lucier, pioneer of experimental music, composer, performer and sound artist passed away on 1st December 2021. Fifty-six years ago, in 1965, Lucier began working with technology to observe natural phenomena and transform his observations into music. With sensors, loudspeakers, microphones, magnets and antennas he redefined the act of listening and thinking about music. Lucier explored the beauty of resonances, beating patterns and tiny frequency shifts, defying traditional ideas of musical time and emphasising how in his view everything was real.
Eleven years ago, In 2010, Alvin Lucier visited Den Haag for a week to rehearse and perform a wide range of his work for festival Dag in de Branding. On this occasion, the Royal Conservatoire hosted a lecture and a performance of Alvin Lucier’s at the Kees van Baarenzaal. Many Sonology and ArtScience students were involved in the festival, working on loudspeaker-percussion-instruments for Music for Solo Performer, carrying long loop antennas for the installation version of Sferics through the dunes, and creating Max-patches for I Am Sitting in a Room. Alvin Lucier left a mark in the landscape. We are grateful that Alvin sat in this room for a while. (text: Anne Wellmer)
