Wood is part of Naegleria fowleri, a series of multimedia compositions based on the prose poetry of Rimona Afana. In this piece, her text tracks the perspective of an abandoned wooden chair, to which I conjoin another manufactured wooden object: a cello, whose sound is dis/trans-figured, rendered artificial-beautiful through electronic processing. After the live version was premiered in Miami in 2019, the cellist Jason Calloway (whose voice is heard reading the text) visited Atlanta on a beautiful autumn weekend. Together with Rimona we recorded audio and video in the studio and in various outdoor locations around Atlanta which I used to create this fixed media video.
Adam Mirza is an Assistant Professor in Composition at Emory University in Atlanta. His research interests include experimental and electronic music, immersive music theater, critical approaches to music technology, avant-garde aesthetics, and DIY concert organizing. At Emory, Dr. Mirza teaches courses involving composition for acoustic instruments, field recording, acousmatic music, live electronic music using Max MSP, and music with video.
Dr. Mirza’s works have been presented at the Zurich New Music Days, the DiMenna Center in NYC, the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Center in Kiev, the North American Saxophone Alliance, the New York Electroacoustic Music Festival, and other venues in the US and abroad. He has worked with new music performers and ensembles including Loadbang, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Argento Ensemble, New Thread Quartet, and the Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble.