At Diapason, I will be presenting Op:Krac as an ongoing sound installation modulated by a Performance at 9pm by live musicians.

The sound installation will consist of three sets of continuous tones. The first will be a set of seven sine waves manifested from data received in real-time from Poker Flats, Alaska. This data represents measurements of the Schumann Resonances Ð a set of quasi-standing waves resulting from continual lightning strikes that cause the earth to resonate as if it were a giant bell. I will transform and transpose this low frequency information into audible values utilizing the audio software Max/MSP.

The second set of tones will be derived (also using Max/MSP) from the analytical formula that describes the harmonics of a sphere. In this sense it is an idealized model of the frequencies being measured above. These tones will have a varying overtone structure and an inverted panning scheme from the first set of tones. Also built in to the programming of these tones will be various glissando patterns and random (minute) pitch change activity.

The third element of the continuous installation will model various states of brainwave activity through the process known as hemi-sync Ð the hard panning of slightly detuned sine waves that is said to cause the experiencerÕs brain to tune into the resulting difference tone through the principle of entrainment Ð a sort of gravitational pull similar to acoustical resonance.

Acting as an amplification and extension of these sounds is a group of improvising musicians working within an area I refer to as Gestural Improvisation. GI is a vocabulary of musical ideas and syntaxes rooted in a severely limited palette of original materials. It is a microcosmic exploitation and investigation of concepts that are generally considered of secondary or coloristic musical properties such as vibrato, portamento, rubato, overtone filtering, etc.

Musicians David First - guitar, laptop synthesizer

Lisa Karrer - voice

Dafna Naphtali - laptop synthesizer, cd player

Jim Pugliese - percussion

David Simons - percussion, sampler

David First , composer/guitarist, has had his music performed in New York at Experimental Intermedia, The Kitchen, La MaMa, Roulette, Merkin Hall, The CMJ Music Marathon, Exit Art, The Knitting Factory, Tonic, The Anchorage, Bang on a Can Festival, and CBGB's. He has also had his music presented at Podewil, the USArts Festival, and at the Institut Unzeit (Berlin) as well as at De Ijsbreker (Amsterdam), The Brugge Concertgebouw (Brugge) the Heidelberger Festival for Experimental Music and Literature (Heidelberg), ZwischenTone Festival (Kšln), The Impakt Festival (Utrecht), Het Apollohuis (Eindhoven), and The Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC). Mr. First has presented sound installations at Kunstforeningen (Copenhagen), the Uppsala Konstmuseum (Uppsala), Exit Art (New York), Voorkhamer (Lier) and (in collaboration with visual artist Patricia Smith) Studio Five Beekman (NYC).

He was the recent recipient of a prestigious "Grant to Artist" for 2001 from The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts and a grant from The Mary Flagler Cary Trust. He has also received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Phaedrus Foundation. He has two CD recordings on O.O. Discs as well as works on the CRI, Aerial, Homestead, and EMF labels. A new song-based CD entitled Universary will be released in the spring of 2002.

This past January, a 45rpm release Ð ÒThe ZipperÓ Ð by a band that First led in the late 70Õs, The Notekillers, was called a Òmind-blowing instrumental singleÓ by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth in Mojo Collections magazine. He cites the song as being one of those he played for the band when they were starting out.

Mr. First has been called "a fascinating artist with a singular technique" by Alex Ross in the New York Times, and "a bizarre cross between Hendrix and La Monte Young" by Kyle Gann in the Village Voice. Regarding the New York production of his opera, The Manhattan Book of the Dead, Mr. Gann wrote: "The music grew and grew in scintillating, illusionary beauty long past the point at which you thought it could still surpass itself". First was also proclaimed the "next big thing in guitar gods" in Time Out NY by music critic K. Leander Williams.

Mr. First has been featured in numerous publications. There are chapters about his music in the books American Music in the Twentieth Century (Gann/Schirmer) and La Musica Minimalista (Antognozzi/Edizioni Textus

From October 2001 to January 2002 Ð in the wake of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks - First distributed over 4,000 CDÕs of a song he wrote entitled ÒJump Back Ð an ode to the people of New York CityÓ. These CDÕs were given out free of charge at the Ground Zero site, at firehouses, related benefits, on the subway, etc. This song remains available at his website Ð www.davidfirst.com

First has also been active as a producer/arranger (on CDÕs by singer/songwriter Stephanie St. John and the pop band, Nova Social), an experimental music DJ on radio station WBAI, and music curator, presenting musical events at HERE, Context Studios, bOb, Exit Art, and the Soho Arts Festival for which he organized the programs Sensual Intelligence and Swirled Music.

In July of 2001 Mr. First was awarded the Neupauer ConservatoryÕs (Phila.) highest honor - the Order of the Shield - for his achievements in the world of music.

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