Three events comprise the 2004-5 season, and include; (1) "The Composers Playpen," a workshop with MAX/MSP, a weeklong residency in which they present concepts of live interactive improvisation and MIDI control, resulting in student and McLean performances at the end; (2) "MILLing in the ENNIUM," a concert/lecture featuring live performance using MSP-processed audio (voice, woodwinds, balloons, percussion, found instruments, amplified bicycle wheel, etc.) along with video, and (3) their new MAX/MSP controlled "Rainforest" audience-interactive media installation, in which up to five participants at a time improvise with multiple slide projections and evocative drones. The tour specifics are as follows (please email the McLeans for details at
This is a partial list as some events are still pending.
Nov. 15, 2005: Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. "On the Edge" lecture-performance. Contact Sam Pellman at 315 859-4355; home phone is 315 853-6828.
Dec. 31, 2005: First Night Saratoga, Hotel Prime, Saratoga Springs, NY: 6 pm-12 midnight. "Rainforest." Prime Hotel, Saratoga Springs, NY.
March 7, 2006: "MILLing in the ENNIUM" concert at Williams College, Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall, 8 pm.
March 9-11: Residency at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT..as follows:
March 9-10: Rainforest audience-interactive installation
March 11: Evening concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM."
Contact Peter Hamlin at 802-443-5331
March 20: Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA. Concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM." Contact Douglas Bomberger, Chair Perf Arts, at 717-361-1115
March 22-24: Residency at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. as follows:
March 22-23: Rainforest audience-interactive installation
March 24: Evening concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM."
Contact Diane Follet at (O) 484-664-3362 (H) 610-821-8585
March 28-30: Residency at Mary Washington College in Fredricksburg, VA. as follows:
March 28-29: Rainforest audience-interactive installation
March 30: Evening concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM."
Contact Patricia Norwood at (540) 654-1961
April 4: Concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM" at Drew University, Morris, NJ. Contact Norman Lowry, Music Dept. Chair, Drew University, Morristown, NJ
April 17: Concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM" at Bradley University, Pieoria, IL COntact David Vroman, Chair, Music Dept. Bradley Univ, Peoria, IL
April 18: Concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM" at University of Wisconsin-LaCross. Contact; Chris Frye.
April 19-21: Residency at LaCross, WI High Schools: "Rainforest" audience-interactive installation. Contact: Steven Bina.
Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2004: THE COMPOSERS PLAYPEN at U of Wisconsin, Madison.
Sept. 27, 2004: U Wisonsin, Madison: RAINFOREST
Sept. 29, 2004: U Wisconsin, Madison: Lecture ON THE EDGE
Oct. 1, 2004: U Wisconsin, Madison: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 1, 2005: SUNY New Paltz, NY: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 3, 2005: Gardner Webb University, Boiling Spring, NC: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 5, 2005: Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA., MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 7, 2005: Univ of Maryland, COllege Park: Lecture ON THE EDGE
March 10, 2005: Univ of Miami at Coral Gables, FL: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 14, 2005: Tulane University, New Orleans, LA: RAINFOREST
March 16, 2005: Mississippi Univ for Women, Columbus, MS: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 18, 2005: Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX.: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 21, 2005: Rice University, Houston, TX.: MILLing in the ENNIUM
March 25, 2005: Missouri Western State College, St. Joseph, MO.: MILLing in the ENNIUM (pending)
March 29-April 1: The Arts Place, Portland, IN.: Residency with RAINFOREST
April 4, 2005: St. Marys College, Notre Dame, IN.: MILLing in the ENNIUM
April 12-14, 2005: Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD.: RAINFOREST
McLEAN MIX SPRING-SUMMER 2004 TOUR
March 22: Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
March 24: Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
March 25 or 26: Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri. Lecture/Demo "The McLean Mix--On the Edge."
March 29: Southeast Oklahoma State University, Shawnee, Oklahoma. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
March 30-31: Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma. Mini-residency as follows:
April 3: Living Arts of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
April 5: Arkansas State University, State University, Arkansas. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
April 10: State University of New York at Geneseo. Excerpts from Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
April 13-14: Mt. Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Mini-residency as follows:
April 21: Daemon College, Amherst, New York. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
May 12: Kingston University, London, Great Britain. Concert "MILLING in the ENNIUM." Sound, video, live performance.
May 14-15: Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, Great Britain. Mini-residency:
RESIDENCIES:
Spring semester, 2002: Artists in Residence at iEAR Program of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (see concert listing below)
July 19-August 1, 2002: Residency in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the "First Russian International Festival of
Electronic, Electroacoustic Experimental & Avant-garde Music -Electroshock" McLean Mix concert "MILLing in the ENNIUM" at the Glinka Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, 5 pm, July 31, 2002.
August 26-Sept. 7, 2002: Artists in Residence at Rocky Mountain National Park. 2-week residency in the William White historic cabin.
September, 2002. Residency at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. Dates to be announced. Audience-interactive residency with premiere of the new MAX/MSP version of "Rainforest" called "Rainforest Plus."
McLEAN MIX TOUR, Spring, 2002
Wed/Thurs, March 20-21, 2002: Residency at Webster College, St. Louis, MO. Event: RAINFOREST audience-interactive installation. The Music Department students, faculty, and visitors (as well as related disciplines such as video, art, computer technology, media studies, etc.) participate in a continuous installation-composition by the McLeans embellished with multimedia images of rainforests around the world. Time: Continuous.
Friday, March 22. Concert and classes at Missouri Western State College. Event: MILLing in the ENNIUM, a multimedia concert with live sound, performance on voice, woodwinds, amplified bicycle wheel, harmonica, violin, many other found objects, processed through a MAX/MSP system developed by Barton McLean. Video as well. Evening concert.
Monday, March 25. Concert and classes at The University of Louisville. Event: MILLing in the ENNIUM (see above). Evening concert.
Tuesday, March 26. Lecture/demo at The University of Kentucky. Event: The McLean Mix-On the Edge. This is a lecture/demo in which the McLeans will talk about and demonstrate some of their recent work music and video work, as well as their installations. Evening event.
Wednesday, March 27. . Concert and classes at Transylvania University. Event: MILLing in the ENNIUM (see above). Evening concert.
Monday/Tuesday, April 1-2. Residency at Mansfield College. April 1 event: MILLing in the ENNIUM (see above). Evening concert. April 2 event: RAINFOREST audience-interactive installation (see above). Time: Continuous. Call for opening hours.
Wednesday, April 24. Concert at the Arts Center of the Capitol Region, sponsored by iEAR at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Event: MILLing in the ENNIUM (see above).
The McLean Mix undertook a well-deserved sabbatical after 20 years of continuous touring!
Composers Barton and Priscilla McLean, forming the McLean Mix electroacoustic duo, are pleased to announce a major millennium event about to be presented and taken on tour during the years 2000 and 2001 entitled "THE ULTIMATE SYMPHONIUS 2000." With a consortium sponsorship from The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Williams College, Hamilton College, and Missouri Western State College, the premiere will take place on Feb. 9 and 10, 2000 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), a brand new facility in North Adams designed specifically to present major installation and experimental media works.
The US 2000 employs creative sound, video, multiple slides, and virtual media stations, and uses as sound material excerpts from the musics of the past 2000 years blended with original music and video from the McLeans, allowing for a variety of participation from musicians, dancers, artists, and others.
One of the unique features of The Ultimate Symphonius 2000 is its ability to engage a whole music department (and dance, history, arts, theater, other departments as well), small or large, in a creative effort, allowing, in its flexibility, any department to participate according to its interests and strengths. It is also designed to be easily set up and flexible as to types of spaces. Dates: Feb. 9 -10, 2000.
Sponsored through the Music Dept. at Wake Forest, Louis Goldstein (the concert pianist who recently recorded a definitive CD of prepared piano music of John Cage), the coordinator, is going all out to make this a successful event, involving the whole department and bringing in dance, art, and other departments as well.
"Inside the Time Machine" is The McLean Mix's premiere concert event, involving "virtual" live video, audio and video processing, virtuosic performance, and even a humorous work using live music boxes in a highly unusual setting (called "Happy Days," this work will be part of a new CD on CRI, funded in part by the Virgil Thompson Foundation).
Dates for The Ultimate Symphonius 2000 at Wake Forest (in Winston-Salem NC):
March 13, 14, 15, all day (check before you go)
McLean Mix concert: Inside the Time Machine: March 16, evening.
Contact: Wake Forest Univ. Music Dept. or email Louis Goldstein at louieg@wfy.edu
Only in the Bay Area, and perhaps only with such an open and enlightened sponsor as Arlyn Christopherson, program director, would you find a serious, challenging interactive media event sponsored by a zoo. But Rainforest is so versatile that it can exist both as a high-end experimental new music improvisational vehicle for visitors, or as an environmental exhibit. In Oakland, it will be both.
"Rainforest" is a portable, self-contained audio-visual-environmental-audience-interactive installation which allows up to five participants at a time to instantly create original and beautiful sounds together, over the sultry and ethereal rainforest drone playing in the background, while viewing the slowly-changing surrealistic multiple slide presentation of rainforests from around the world. The creative stations consist of keyboards sampled with actual rainforest sounds recorded by the McLeans in Peru, Hawaii, Australia, Puerto Rico, and New Zealand. Other stations include microphones with artifacts that can be used by the visitors (bird calls, etc.) and which are then digitally-processed through delays, pitch-shifting, etc., and an amplified and digitally-processed zither. What is interesting to "New Music" visitors will be the unusual array of exotic sounds and instruments allowing some very sultry and evocative improvisational possibilities.
Dates: The McLean Mix residency in Oakland will be from March 29 through April 2. Best times to catch "Rainforest" would be on the weekend of April 1-2. A special concert event is tentatively planned for Saturday night, April 1.
The College of Creative Studies sought a residency of interest to a wide variety of disciplines, and that is the context of this McLean Mix residency. Beginning with the "Rainforest" audience-interactive installation, the music and art departments will combine in an unusual creative alliance, as art and music students improvise together in their respective disciplines.
To sum up the residency, a concert event "On the Edge of New Forms" will be given by the McLeans. The highlight of the program is a new video "Rainforest Images" created in collaboration with the Maylasian video artist Hasnul J. Saidon. The raw images were shot by Barton McLean in a recent expedition to the Peruvian Amazon, many from a dugout canoe. Many spectacular sounds and sights were recorded, some of which may have never been heard before, amplified with experimental video techniques. The music is also rich and varied, being the result of a collaboration of several artists over a period of five years. Also performed will be "Happy Days," a combination of music and humor, as Priscilla attempts to control five real music boxes while they go their own ways. Other works include "Amazon," a sultry improvisation with flutes, voices, pre-Cambrian ringing rocks, surrealistic multiple slide images.
Dates: Rainforest: April 6-7. Times to be announced.
On the Edge of New Forms: April 8 evening.
For "Rainforest" details, see above.
Dates: April 10, all day. This may be changed to April 17, so be sure to check.
For US 2000 details, see above. Matt Gilmour, Chair of the Music Dept at MWSC, has been an avid supporter of McLean Mix activities, and MWSC is one of the consortia commissioning the work. It will be done in the Multipurpose Room at the Student Union.
Dates: April 13-14.
The McLean Mix is pleased to share this special Earth Day celebratory residency with this brand new center (recently featured in a NY Times article) just opened. Being Earth Day, of course it's only natural to see "Rainforest" audience-interactive environmental installation, followed by a special Earth Day concert "Music About and From the Wilderness," which adapts the "On the Edge of New Forms" series (see above) to more of a nature format, adding "Wilderness," a virtuosic vocal work composed by and sung by Priscilla McLean on a text of the same name by Carl Sandburg. Also featured will be a video portrayal of portions of the recent Malaysian trip (Borneo) by the McLeans, resulting in the "Jambori Rimba" installation and concert work.
Dates: Rainforest: April 21-22.
Special matinee concert "Music From and About the Wilderness": April 23 mid afternoon,
Wishing events applicable to the whole arts area, Lynchburg College has chosen "Rainforest" and "Inside the Time Machine" for the residency. See above for descriptions.
Dates: Rainforest: April 25. all day.
Inside the Time Machine: April 26, evening.
The McLean Mix has had a long, fruitful relationship with Hamilton College, culminating in its being one of the major consortia commission members for the US 2000 (see above for description).
Dates: May 4,5,6, all day.
Culminating the McLean mix winter/spring '2000 season will be the longest residency of the tour, with the "Rainforest" audience-interactive media installation being at the core of the residency. During the weekdays, the museum will be open to the public, with special groups scheduled throughout the period (so check ahead).
Dates: May 9-12 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. May 13-14 from 1:00 to 4:30 pm.
VENUES (Click on whichever best represents your organization): University Residencies, Concerts, Installations ~ Alternative Spaces, Galleries, and Museums ~ Community Arts Centers, Concert Series, Galleries, Libraries ~ Environmental Studies Programs
EVENT TYPES: Concerts ~ "Budget" lecture/performances ~ Audience-Interactive Playpens (whoops, we meant "Installations") ~ More Playpens or Installations ~ MILLing in the ENNIUM setup diagram
FEES OF ALL EVENTS
"Budget" Lecture/performance fees
New Compact Discs and other goodies
Barton McLean & Priscilla McLean Academic Credentials
Published articles by Priscilla and Barton McLean
Phone: (518) 658 3595
Address: 55 Coon Brook Road, Petersburgh, NY, 12138