Meet composer and conductor Bill Ryan and Billband for this New Sounds program.  Ryan is the director of the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) new music group, and the mastermind behind 2007’s “story of the year in new music circles” where his all-student, all-volunteer band recorded Steve Reich’s 1976 masterwork, “Music for 18 Musicians,” to choruses of critical praise.  Bill Ryan and the ensemble went on to record Terry Riley’s “In C.”  Ryan is also a composer, and has recently released a record of his own compositions, “Towards Daybreak.”  Members of Billband - violinist/composer Todd Reynolds, and Bang on a Can All-Stars pianist Vicky Chow and cellist Ashley Bathgate- perform Ryan’s works live in the studio.  

Billband performs at Le Poisson Rouge this Sunday night, Feb. 10, 2013.  More information: "Towards Daybreak" record release show.

For this New Sounds, we'll focus on the orchestra of the 21st Century.  Chances are this orchestra is a bit leaner and more versatile than a  100 member-plus symphony orchestra and most likely includes electric and/or electronic instruments.  We'll hear many examples, including Alarm Will Sound, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Sujian Stevens' The BQE Project, a work for a quirky symphony orchestra. And more.

Listen to a new take on minimalist icon Terry Riley’s “In C” by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble and some of the most imaginative DJ's, remixers and composers around.  Insistent and propulsive, In C is based on a series of 53 interlocking phrases, repeated any number of times, that merge to form an ever-changing tapestry of sound. 

Listen to a new take on minimalist icon Terry Riley’s “In C” by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble and some of the most imaginative DJ's, remixers and composers around.  Insistent and propulsive, In C is based on a series of 53 interlocking phrases, repeated any number of times, that merge to form an ever-changing tapestry of sound.  On a recent 2-CD collection of remixes, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang, ambient/hip hop master DJ Spooky, cello innovator Zoë Keating, the ubiquitous genre-hopper Nico Muhly, and many more took the raw tracks from the GVSU New Music Ensemble, and played with them on their laptops.  For this New Sounds, we’ll hear some of their results.