Wild Sound challenges the distinctions that exist between music and noise, instrument and everyday object, performance and daily life. Composer Glenn Kotche created this new musical work for Third Coast Percussion combining field recordings from cities around the world, live performance, and the construction and de-construction of musical instruments on stage. These custom-made percussion instruments were conceptualized by Kotche and designed and built by students and faculty at the University of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering. The field recordings in the work are drawn from Kotche’s international touring as drummer for the Grammy-winning rock band, Wilco. The field recordings create a narrative arc that draws the listener from the sounds of the natural world to the industrial sounds of modern urban life.
“The glory of ‘Wild Sound’ is that the composition delivers the musical goods — there is a wide swath of shifting textures and timbres, rhythms and moods. It is infused with an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity.”
-The Star Tribune
Wild Sound was commissioned by the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund. Additional support provided by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series.
Composer: Glenn Kotche
Stage Director: Leslie Buxbaum Danzig
Video Artist: Xuan
Audio Engineer: Dan Nichols
Live Video: Scott McConnell
Custom Instruments Designed by University of Notre Dame College of Engineering Students and Faculty, led by Jay Brockman.
