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INCUBUS GUITARIST MICHAEL EINZIGER PENS ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION
TO BE PERFORMED AT ROYCE HALL ON AUGUST 23
Michael Einziger, guitarist from the Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum rock band Incubus enters a new realm with the debut of his first original orchestral composition, “End.>vacuum,” at UCLA’s famed Royce Hall on August 23.
The piece consists of nine musical movements (approximately 40 minutes total) and will be performed by a chamber orchestra led by renowned Los Angeles conductor and Einziger’s longtime collaborator Suzie Katayama.
The evening will begin with British physicist Dr. Brian Cox, who will be giving a 20-minute lecture about particle physics and the exciting scientific experiments being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). Dr. Cox was the Scientific Consultant on the Danny Boyle film Sunshine. His commentary on the film is now available on the DVD. He also writes on scientific issues, most recent credits include the New Statesman and The Times. His ability to present science in an exciting and interesting way has made him a popular television & radio presenter, broadcaster and writer.
Einziger has been crafting “End.>vacuum” for more than a year, following surgery in March 2007 for carpel tunnel syndrome, a repetitive-strain injury to his left wrist undoubtedly due to a lifetime of playing guitar. The condition forced him to take a hiatus from the band and his instrument. It would be the longest he’d ever gone without playing, and enabled him to follow some other musical, as well as outside, interests.
“Live musical performance is what I’m most familiar with,” says Einziger, who will play various different instruments throughout the piece. “So I think it was natural for me to gravitate in that direction.”
The piece was inspired by such iconoclastic modern and avant-garde composers as Igor Stravinsky, George Crumb, Samuel Barber, Krzysztof Penderecki and Frank Zappa.
According to Einziger, “End.>vacuum” makes reference to his perception of the outer edge of human understanding, “the finite place where rational scientific knowledge stops and pure speculation ensues…The event horizon between what we know and what we don’t know is what keeps me awake at night, but also gets me out of bed every day.”
A major portion of the piece’s inspiration resides in Einziger’s love of science. He has recently participated in articles with Brown University evolutionary biologist Dr. Kenneth Miller, British physicist Dr. Brian Cox and Pulitzer Prize-winning science historian Dr. Ed Larson.
Einziger has been accepted at Harvard, where he will begin to study musical composition this fall. He hopes to study subjects such as Physics, Cosmology and Evolutionary Biology. You know, the easy stuff.
A ticket presale will take place from July 22-25. For details on how to qualify for the presale, please visit www.endvacuum.com. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on August 1st through www.ticketmaster.com.
