Mikel Kuehn - Activities

Current Activities

2021-22 has been a productive year, mostly focused on a new portrait album through New Focus Recordings (released September 16, 2022). This collection features seven works composed between 1999 and 2022 including a new piece for soprano and immersive fixed media, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, based on Wallace Stevens' poem of the same name. For this project I’ve been awarded generous funding from the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University. I’ve also received an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. Two of my compositions garnered special attention this year: Chimera (2017, flute and piano) was awarded first prize in the Flute New Music Consortium Composition Contest and my recent fixed media ambisonic work, Unlocking the Keys (2021), received an honorable mention in the 2022 International Destellos Competition on Electroacoustic Music (Argentina). This past April, the New York City collective Collide-O-Scope Music mounted a performance of my 1994 work, Fünf Parabeln for soprano and chamber ensemble featuring five of Franz Kafka’s Parables. Last fall I participated in the documentary Composing in the Technological Age: Discussions with Patricia Alessandrini, Christopher Bailey, Doug Geers, Mikel Kuehn, Margaret Schedel. (Watch here).  I recently completed an immersive fixed media work, Perseverance: An Artist Rendering (2022) based solely on NASA's audio recordings from the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover.  Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that I will be joining the Eastman composition faculty in July 2023.

Activities 2022

  • June, 2022, TBD. Perseverance: An Artist Rendering (2022, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) featured on the 2023 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF).  Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, New York City, New York.
  • May 11, 2023, 5:30pm. Perseverance: An Artist Rendering (2022, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) featured on the NoiseFloor UK Festival. Cadman TV Studios, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DE, UK.
  • April 12th, 2022. Appearance on the Music Crush Podcast with Nicole Riner and Elizabeth Robinson. This interview is quite broad and is centered around my composition Chimera (2017 for flute and piano), winner of the 2021 Flute New Music Consortium Composition Contest for flute and piano. Available on Anchor/Spotify, including Apple, Google, Amazon, iHeartRadio, etc.  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nicole-riner/episodes/Interview-Mikel-Kuehn-e1sj1kt
  • March 26, 2023, 4pm. Collide-O-Scope Music, Concert 1.  Laura Cocks (flute) and Augustus Arnone (piano) perform Chimera (2017, flute and piano).  This program also features works by Milton Babbitt, Julie Harting, Margaret Schedel, and Robert Morris. Renee Weiler Concert Hall - Greenwich House, 46 Barrow St., New York City.
  • February 8, 2023, 8pm. BGSU Faculty Showcase: Brian Snow, cello: Chiaroscuro (2007, cello and live electronics) performed by cellist Brian Snow. Brian Recital Hall, Bowling Green State University.
  • February 1, 2023, 8pm. Two electroacoustic compositions presented on the BGSU Faculty Composers Forum: Chiaroscuro (2007, cello and live electronics) performed by cellist Brian Snow and, Unlocking the Keys (2021 Ambisonic fixed media). Brian Recital Hall, Bowling Green State University.
  • January 2023. Review in Fanfare Magazine. Dent, Huntley. “KUEHN Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Chimera. Entanglements. Colored Shadows (Hyperresonance IV) 2. Double Labyrinth. Table Talk. Rite of Passage (Hyperresonance V).”
  • November 28, 2022, 10pm. KGNU 88.5 FM, "The Present Edge," (Radio) Boulder, Colorado. Rite of Passage. https://www.afterfm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/playlist.listing/showInstanceID/9/playlistDate/2022-11-28
  • October 15, 2022, 2:30pm. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (2022, soprano and periphonic ambisonic fixed media) performed by soprano Deborah Norin-Kuehn on the Bowling Green New Music Festival.  Bryan Recital Hall, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
  • October 13, 2022.  Review of new album Entanglements on Klang: Reverberations. http://klangnewmusic.weebly.com/reverberations/mikel-kuehn-entanglements
  • October 5, 2022, 8pm. Perseverance: An Artist Rendering (2022, periphonic ambisonic fixed media), premiered at Espacios Sonoros. Salta, ARGENTINA. 
  • October 5, 2022, 4:34pm. WKCR FM, "Extended Technique," (Radio), Columbia University, New York, NY.  Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/schedule
  • October 5, 2022, 4:58pm. WKCR FM, "Extended Technique," (Radio), Columbia University, New York, NY.  Entanglements. https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/schedule
  • October 5, 2022, 4:34pm. WKCR FM, "Extended Technique," (Radio), Columbia University, New York, NY.  Double Labyrinth. https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/schedule
  • September 26, 2022, 10pm. KGNU 88.5 FM, "The Present Edge," (Radio) Boulder, Colorado. Chimera. https://www.afterfm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/playlist.listing/showInstanceID/9/playlistDate/2022-10-03/showName/The%20Present%20Edge
  • September 24, 2022, 7:30pm. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (2022, soprano and ambisonic fixed media) receives its European premiere by soprano Deborah Norin-Kuehn at Convergence 2022.  MTI2 Institute for Sonic Creativity. De Montfort University, PACE Studio 1, Leicester, UK.
  • September 23, 2022. Música Contemporânea (PORTUGAL) “Episode 115,” (Podcast) Rite of Passage.  https://www.rtp.pt/play/p593/e642201/musica-contemporanea
  • September 22, 2022. Música Contemporânea (PORTUGAL) “Episode 114,” (Podcast) Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. https://www.rtp.pt/play/p593/e641952/musica-contemporanea
  • September 20, 2022. Música Contemporânea (PORTUGAL) “Episode 112,” (Podcast) Table Talk. https://www.rtp.pt/play/p593/e641474/musica-contemporanea
  • September 19, 2022, 4pm. WMBR 88.1 FM, “Not Brahms and Liszt, Episode 337,” (Radio) Cambridge, Massachusetts. Colored Shadows, Rite of Passage. https://alleystoughton.us/not-brahms-and-liszt/
  • September 17, 2022. Martian Gardens Radio. “Episode 1122,” (Podcast) Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. https://martiangardens.blog/2022/09/17/martian-gardens-episode-1122/
  • September 16, 2022.  Release of second portrait album: Entanglements on New Focus Recordings.  (More information coming soon).
  • July 7, 2022, 2:40pm. Unlocking the Keys (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) presented on the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) 2022.  University of Limerick, Limerick, IRELAND.
  • June 25, 2022, 8pm. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (2022, soprano and periphonic ambisonic fixed media) world premiere performance by soprano Deborah Norin-Kuehn on the 2022 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF).  Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, New York City, New York.
  • May 22, 2022. UNDÆ! Radio “no. 235: Destellos 2022 #2,” (Podcast) Unlocking the Keys. https://proyectoundae.wordpress.com/undae-podcast/
  • May 13, 2022, 5pm. Unlocking the Keys (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) featured on the NoiseFloor UK Festival.  Cadman Studios, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DE, UK.
  • May 7, 2022, 11:30am. Unlocking the Keys (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) featured on the Manchester New Music Festival, Manchester University, North Manchester, Indiana.
  • April 22, 2022, TBA. Unlocking the Keys (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) presented on the Earth Day Art Model Telematic Festival. Deck 10 Media and the Tavel Arts Technology Research Center at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). https://earthdayartmodel.org/#about
  • April 2022: Unlocking the Keys (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) received an honorable mention in the 15th Anniversary edition of the International Destellos Competition on Electroacoustic Music (ARGENTINA).  Info here.
  • April 10, 2022, 4:00pm. Fünf Parabeln (1993/2020, for soprano and chamber ensemble based on Kafka texts) will receive the world premiere performance (revised version) on the Collide-O-Scope Music 12th Anniversary Gala Concert.  Deborah Norin-Kuehn, soprano; Laura Cocks, flutes; Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinets; Emilie Gendron, violin; John Popham, cello; Augustus Arnone, piano; Robert Whalen, cond. The National Opera Center, Marc Scorca Recital Hall, 330 7th Ave., New York City, New York. http://augustusarnone.com/cosm/
  • April 1, 2022, 7:30pm. Dancing in the Ether (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) presented on the University of Nebraska Kearney New Music Festival. Kearney, Nebraska.
  • March 31, 2022, 7:00pm. Dancing in the Ether (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) presented on the Society of Electroacoustic Music in the U.S. (SEAMUS) National Conference.  Dalton Lecture Hall, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 
  • March 23-25, 2022. Chimera (2017, flute and piano) performed on the SoundON Festival by Lisa Cella, flute and Christopher Adler, piano.  http://turnupfestival.org/ [postponed to fall 2022 due to the pandemic]
  • March 4, 2022: received a grant from the Alice M. Ditson Fund (Recording Program) in support of my upcoming New Focus portrait album (to be released on September 16, 2022).
  • February 15, 2022. Recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.
  • February 4, 2022, 11:15am. Dancing in the Ether (2020, periphonic ambisonic fixed media) presented on the Florida State Festival of New Music.  Dohnányi Recital Hall, FSU, Tallahassee, Florida.
  • January 2, 2022, 7:30pm. Chimera (2017, flute and piano) performed on the SoundON Festival by Lisa Cella, flute and Christopher Adler, piano.  Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, California. https://www.ljathenaeum.org/events/soundon-2022-series