Barry Schrader Presents "Duke's Tune" - The First Musical Work Based on a Melody Composed by a Pig

Composer Barry Schrader presents "Duke's Tune", the first musical composition based on a melody written by a pig, on the SEAMUS 20th Anniversary Concert, November 20, 8:00 P.M., in the Roy O. Disney Music Hall at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.

(PRWEB) November 16, 2004 -- Barry Schrader's http://barryschrader.com/ "Duke's Tune" is based on a theme composed by Duke, a potbellied pig who is the artist-in-residence at Lil Orphan Hammies, a shelter for abused and abandoned potbellied pigs in Solvang, California http://www.lilorphanhammies.com/. Duke created his melody on his xylophone, and is also an accomplished performer on the piano, violin, and his special guitar autographed by songwriter Diane Warren http://www.realsongs.com/. Schrader transcribed Duke's composition and used it as the basis for the electro-acoustic music work "Duke's Tune" in which all of the pitch material is based on variations of Duke's original melody. "Duke's Tune" will be released next year on an Innova CD http://innova.mu/searchresults.aspx?textfieldName=barry+schrader.

The presentation of "Duke's Tune" takes place as part of a concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of SEAMUS, The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States http://www.seamusonline.org/, an organization of composers and performers of electro-acoustic music founded by Schrader in 1984. SEAMUS has grown to over 550 members, making it the largest organization of its kind in the world. The SEAMUS 20th Anniversary Concert, organized by Schrader, presents video interviews and compositions by the six composers who have been the Presidents of SEAMUS over the last twenty years. The concert is part of the SCREAM Listening Room Series (Southern California Resource for Electro-Acoustic Music) at CalArts http://www.calarts.edu/news/index.html. SCREAM was created by Schrader in 1986 to present concerts and broadcasts of new electro-acoustic music.

Barry Schrader has been acclaimed by the "Los Angeles Times" as "a composer born to the electronic medium", and described by "Gramophone" as a composer of "approachable electronic music with a distinctive individual voice to reward the adventurous". Schrader's compositions for electronics, dance, film, video, multimedia, live/electro-acoustic combinations, and real-time computer performance have been presented throughout the world. Schrader is the founder and the first president of SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States), and has been responsible for the initiation and operation of SCREAM (Southern California Resource for Electro-Acoustic Music), the Currents concert series, and the CalArts Electro-Acoustic Marathon. He has written for several publications including several editions of "The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", "Grollier's Encyclopedia", "Contemporary Music Review", and "Journal SEAMUS", and is the author of the book "Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music".

Schrader is currently on the Composition Faculty of the School of Music of the California Institute of the Arts, and has also taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara and California State University at Los Angeles. His music is recorded on the Opus One, Laurel, CIRM, SEAMUS, Centaur, and Innova labels. His most recent release is "Lost Atlantis" on Innova 629 http://innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=218.

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