Peter Dickson Lopez
MISE-EN, Series II
MIS-EN comprises an extended series of works, the first of which (Series I) was written for the Ensemble MIS-EN (Moon Young Ha, conductor) and first performed in Seoul, South Korea in 2018. The initial series was meant to reflect the aesthetic agenda of Ensemble MISE-EN, whose name roughly translates from Korean to English as meaning “Decorative Beauty”, an aesthetic agenda which is also closely aligned with the composer's artistic world view. “Decorative Beauty” thus defines the two divergent but complementary musical components with which these works are composed: “sound tapestry” (“beautiful”), and ornamentation (“decorative”).
To achieve this goal for each Series, I score for a given chamber ensemble in a way which would reflect a larger sonic landscape than what might be considered traditional chamber writing. Each ensemble of the MISE-EN Series consists of a standard, legacy, or traditional chamber ensemble with the addition of some form of electroacoustic extension including tape delay and echo, live processing of the ensemble acoustic instruments, digital manipulation of audio samples, and acousmatic audio tracks consisting of synthesized audio, sampled audio, and modulation of various components of that audio.
I scored Series I for (roughly) the "Pierrot" ensemble (of Schoenberg's Op. 21 Pierrot lunaire"), without the Sprechstimme but with added percussion; I scored Series II for amplified String Quartet. Additional MISE-EN Series I am working on include Series III for Amplified Piano Quartet and Electroacoustic Devices, Series IV for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Acousmatic Sound (à la Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion), and Series V for Extended Piano and Orchestra.
The Sirius String Quartet recorded MISE-EN Series II Episode I in early 2022, and this recording was released on the Navona record label of PARMA recordings. To simplify logistics, the live Acoustic Devices were prerecorded and mixed with the Acousmatic Soundtracks for the Sirius Quartet recording, and this was also done for the subsequent recording by the Lehner Quartet in 2024. In Series II, “decorative” and “beauty” find their musical analogs in tight, ornamental arabesques and soaring melodies, respectively.
As an internationally performed composer, Lopez traces his musical roots to a broad range of influences from his tenure as a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley (USA), as a Tanglewood (USA) Fellowship Composer, and as recipient of the George Ladd Prix de Paris (1976-78). The eclectic nature of Lopez’s mature style stems no doubt from having worked directly with composers of diverse approaches and philosophies during his early years at Berkeley and Tanglewood: with Joaquin Nin-Culmell, Andrew Imbrie, Edwin Dugger, Olly Wilson, Earle Brown at UC Berkeley (1972-1978); and with Ralph Shapey and Theodore Antoniou during his Fellowship at Tanglewood (1979). Even more influential to Lopez’s artistic development was his residence in Paris where he had the opportunity to listen to many live concerts of contemporary European composers as well as to attend numerous events at IRCAM. One of Lopez’s creative principles is that Composition Is Performance On Paper! No doubt due to this enduring philosophy, his compositions were recognized early in his career: with several prizes and awards including the George Ladd Prix de Paris and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize; with numerous performances throughout the United States and Europe; and with an LP recording of a major work for Male Voice, Chamber Orchestra and Live Electronics released on the 1750 Arch Records label. In 2021 this work, The Ship of Death in an abbreviated version, was rereleased in digital format by PARMA Recordings on the Navona record label. This same work received its world’s premiere in 1979 in the Netherlands by the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Ernest Bour. Lopez is equally comfortable with experimental instrumental techniques (IFASIA for octet), electronics (Moment Pieces for Extended Piano), digital techniques (MISE-EN, Series I, II, and III), electroacoustics (The Ship of Death) and traditional methodologies (Visions des reflets et nocturnes for Piano and String Orchestra, Song of Thirteen Moons for Orchestra, and Aujourd’hui for Double String Orchestra). World premieres of recent works have been performed by the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra in Sydney, Australia (2017, 2018), the Ensemble MISE-EN in Seoul, South Korea (2018), and the Lviv Philharmonic Society in Lviv, Ukraine (2022). Navona Records released a recent work of Lopez, MISE-EN Series II Episode I for Amplified String Quartet and Acousmatic Sound, in July 2023. Navona also releases in January 2024 a piano solo piece from his series of piano pieces, Pieces From A Distant Land. Acclaimed pianist Anna Kislitsyna recorded this work in May 2023 at the beautiful Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, Massachusetts for this release. Pianist Jennifer Wang premiered this same work shortly thereafter in June at the Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York City during the Laureate Gala Performances produced by Progressive Musicians and Sound Espressivo. Lopez remains actively engaged in continuing projects including numerous solo piano pieces, orchestral compositions, electroacoustic and digital media, and works featuring vocal soloists, chamber choirs and symphony orchestra. Lopez's current recording projects include an orchestral work (Serenade from Song of Thirteen Moons) to be recorded by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Ostrava, Czech Republic) in November 2023 to be released in 2024 on the Navona Record label, and an album collection of solo piano and chamber works to be released on Petrichor Records, also in 2024.
