Title: Crystal Radio
Commission: 2012
Completed: 2014
Instrumentation: solo percussion
Premiere Location: Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Premiere Ensemble: Steven Schick
Notes:

Inspired by natural phenomena and the abstraction of simple stories, Nathan Davis “writes music that deals deftly and poetically with timbre and sonority” (New York Times), elucidating the acoustics of instruments and the fragile athleticism of playing them.

The BAM Next Wave Festival and American Opera Projects presented the world premiere of Davis’ Hagoromo, a chamber dance-opera featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble, soloists Katalin Karolyi and Peter Tantsits, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and featuring dancers Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto. The Donaueschinger Musiktage commissioned Davis’ Echeia for string quartet and live electronics, and Tanglewood presented the premiere of The Sand Reckoner (a “macrocosmic masterpiece” - Boston Globe) for six solo voices and celeste. Lincoln Center inaugurated its Tully Scope Festival with the premiere of Nathan’s landmark work Bells, a site-specific, electroacoustic piece for ensemble, multi-channel audio, and live diffusion broadcast through a conference system to audience members’ mobile phones.

Davis has written many other works for the International Contemporary Ensemble and its members, and has received commissions from Ekmeles vocal ensemble, GMEM (Marseille), Steven Schick, Miller Theatre, the Ojai Festival (for Eighth Blackbird and an installation by sound-sculptor Trimpin), The La Jolla Symphony Chorus, Doug Perkins, the Calder Quartet, SO Percussion, MATA, and Yarn/Wire.