"Cross Currents," a multimedia concert, will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 14, in the Stuckeman Family Building's Forum North space (on floors three and four). The performance will be free and open to the public.
"Cross Currents" is a digital media variety show, consisting of works created by guests, and Penn State faculty and students.
Curtis Craig, professor of sound design, will be playing an eight-channel composition. Mark Ballora, professor of music technology, will be presenting a work derived from a variety of geophysical and astronomical datasets.
The concert will feature a performance by interactive media performer Margaret Schedel from the music faculty of SUNY Stonybrook, who also will be bringing four of her students to perform their works.
Schedel will be presenting a piece created from EEG data of autistic and non-autistic patients. She will be giving a talk on her work titled “Ferociously Interactive Music: Collaborations with Scientists” at 2:30 p.m. on April 13, in Room 117 Borland Building.
Her students will present a variety of works, including one piece that consists of graphical interactive score, with a cellist matching timbres indicated on a computer screen, and another work in which the music is controlled by a dancer whose movements are sensed by a Kinect box.
Stuckeman's Forum North space works well for concerts due to its amphitheatre-like configuration, with additional viewing available from fourth-floor walkways to the third-floor performance area. The ambiance is informal, and audience members are encouraged to move about and take in the performances from various viewing angles.