Borealis Samtale Episode 3: George Lewis

Borealis : Talking Experiments

Borealis: Samtale is a new podcast exploring the conversation archives of Borealis – a festival for experimental music in Bergen, Norway. In this episode we’re meeting composer George Lewis. From the 1970s as a member of the influential AACM in Chicago, through his pioneering work with electronic music to his large body of notated and improvised music, teaching and writing as a professor of American Music at Columbia University, George Lewis is one of the leading voices of modern composition. Professor Lewis brought four pieces to this years festival, including the world premiere of Kulokker, commissioned by Borealis and nyMusikk Norway. The pieces were performed by Elaine Mitchener and the Norwegian Naval Forces Band, in the natural history museum in Bergen, on the opening night of the festival back in March 2020. The following day he joined artistic director Peter Meanwell in a conversation where they touched upon themes such as curation and canonization, and on how classical music and composition has previously been defined to only celebrate certain groups of people and thus exclude others. Presented in collaboration with Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek. Supported by Fritt Ord. Foto: Emily Peragine