Neil Rolnick: Mashups & Laptop Solos
FREE and Open to the Public | In Person + Livestream
Composer Neil Rolnick pioneered in the use of computers in musical performance, beginning in the 1970s. Based in New York City since 2002, his music has been performed world wide, including recent performances in Cuba, China, Mexico and across the US and Europe. His string quartet Oceans Eat Cities was performed at COP21, the UN Global Climate Summit in Paris in 2015.
Rolnick’s music includes combinations of digital sampling, interactive multimedia, and acoustic vocal, chamber and orchestral works. In the 1990s he developed the first integrated electronic arts graduate and undergraduate programs in the US, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Though much of his work connects music and technology, his music has always been highly melodic and accessible. It has been characterized by critics as “sophisticated,” “hummable and engaging,” and as having “good senses of showmanship and humor.”
In 2023 One For The Ages, a 30 minute streaming event for instruments and dancers, was premiered by the Ensemble Échappé; En La Frontera, a large scale work with video for the Ónix Ensamble, was premiered in Mexico City; and Rolnick’s 22nd CD, Lockdown Fantasies, was released on the Other Minds label.
