Join guitarists Alexander Elliot Miller and Giacomo Fiore for an evening of new and improvised works for electric guitars and synthesizers.
Alexander Elliott Miller is a composer, guitarist, and educator based in Southern California. Miller has written and performed works for electric guitar in chamber ensemble contexts with numerous collaborators including the HOCKET Piano Duo, the Panic Duo, soprano Ariel Pisturino, and for his own duo with percussionist Ben Phelps. He has received honors including a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and the Earplay Donald Aird Composers Award.
From the composer: “Antibodypolitic” is the title of a collection of pieces for electric guitar and synthesizers that I began composing during the pandemic. The title of the project crosses the words “antibody” and “body politic.” This sentiment was inspired by Arvo Part’s famous quote “This tiny coronavirus has shown us in a painful way that humanity is a single organism and that human existence is possibly only in relation to other living beings.”
Some of these compositions express specific emotions or memories related to the pandemic. “Running Spring” is inspired by my memories of becoming a runner during quarantine. “Elegia Universalis” is a lament, and “In the Company of a Thoughts” is a picture of contemplative isolation. The title track of the project, “Antibodypolitic,” was written in 2021 shortly after I was vaccinated, and to me has a feeling of both sad relief and hopefulness. The finale, “Ever Ending” was written later in 2022 with a forward looking joyfulness.”
Giacomo Fiore is an Italian guitarist and musicologist who has performed across the United States, Brazil, Canada, and Europe, giving world and U.S. premieres of dozens of works for electric, classical, and just intonation guitars. A Ph.D. graduate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Giacomo’s research focuses on U.S. experimental music, tunings, and performance. He has published articles in Music Theory Spectrum, TEMPO, the Journal of the Society for American Music, Classical Guitar, and Ukulele Magazine, and released numerous solo recordings for Populist, Pinna, Cold Blue, and Paper Garden Records, as well as his own impressum. He teaches at USF and UCSC.