I feel blessed to have another exciting performance in Oberlin. Tiffany Chang (Conductor of the Arts and Sciences Orchestra) is presenting The Death of the Moth.
"The Death of the Moth" was written for chamber orchestra and electronics to accompany film by Rian Brown and Hege Røyert. "Men rush to their doom like moths flying to their death in the candle-flame" — Bhagavad Gita. The moth is drawn towards light, and like Icarus, will inevitably burn its wings and fall. "The Death of the Moth" is a meditation on our "falling from grace" and out-of-balance relationship with nature. The title is from a short story by Virginia Woolf.
Here is a link to the live stream if you would like to listen online: Arts & Sciences Orchestra.
Thursday, December 5, 7:30pm
Warner Concert Hall
Oberlin, OH
What do you get when you combine 500 musicians, 20 loudspeakers, 3 food trucks, and over 4 hours duration? An epic musical event on a scale that even I never dreamed would come to pass. This weekend, my latest project will come to fruition in a free concert at Finney Chapel. I have crafted a delicious musical collage, with overlapping textures and surprise appearances by performers throughout Finney Chapel, and maybe even outside. There will be singers, traditional instruments, and unusual electronic sounds all blending together into waves of sonic enchantment.
You are invited to come and go as you wish; you might want to listen from the balcony, or from the lobby, or while eating food outside under the tent. You are encouraged to devise your own experience of this evening by moving around and basking in unexpected musical magic.
The Kaleidosonic Music Festival is part of the 50th anniversary celebration of electronic music at Oberlin, check out the TIMARA website for more information about Kaleidosonic and other events in store this year.
The Kaleidosonic Music Festival is dedicated to my mother, Barbara Lopez (1939-2019), who enthusiastically supported all my wild dream-chasing endeavors. This is for you, Mom, I love you.
Saturday, November 16, 7:30pm
Finney Chapel
Oberlin, OH
I am thrilled to participate in the (T)echs Machina Festival this week. I am especially excited to present the Oberlin premiere of my recent solo creation, The Scream and Whine of Trump.
There will be a host of incredible performances at the festival, including appearances by Onyx Ashanti, Akiko Hatakeyama, George Lewis, Eli Stine, Alex Christie, Abby Arest, Aurie Hsu, and Peter Swendsen.
Thursday, March 14, 7:30pm
Birenbaum
Oberlin, OH
In 1937, Pablo Picasso created a series of prints to satirize the fascist dictator, Francisco Franco. The artwork consisted of postcards entitled, “The Dream and Lie of Franco.”
In 2017, I was inspired by Pablo Picasso to create my own resistance piece, The Dream and Lie of Trump, including a postcard that people could print and mail. In 2018, as life in the USA becomes more tense and shrill, I have composed another postcard and performance piece, The Scream and Whine of Trump, satirizing our very own fascist leader.
Friday, November 16, 7:30pm
Moores Opera House
Houston, TX
I will travel to the east coast this week to perform with my collaborator friends in Inflatable Trio. Set within an unstable landscape, the dance is performed on and around an inflatable plastic living room furniture and looks at the ways we attempt to orient ourselves within ever-changing domestic, social and environmental terrains. As the elements of a family room are repeatedly deflated, dismantled and re-formed, three dancers persist, react and cope, examining how private interactions support and terrify us in relation to the outside world. Each performer in turn upends - and is upended by - the objects, people and situations that surround them in this domestic drama beyond the walls of the performance space.
Saturday, April 14, 8:00pm
Sunday, April 15, 7:00pm
Dance Complex
536 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Sound artist and composer Tom Lopez will discuss the installation of Éliane Radigue’s 1970 composition, OMNHT, which is presented in INDUCTION, a two-person exhibition that features new paintings, videos, and glass sculpture by New York based artist Tauba Auerbach (1981, San Francisco, CA) alongside an early sound installation by Paris-based composer Éliane Radigue (1932, Paris, France).
Saturday, March 31, 2:30pm
Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art
11400 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Many thanks to percussionist extraordinaire, Justin Gunter, for premiering two works this evening! sfound Objects: 3 Vertices for 21 objects and solo percussionist was performed in Fairchaild Chapel. It's companion piece, sfound Objects: 3 Vertices & 1 Circle for percussionist and live electronics was also performed by Justin. I will post the score and recordings as soon as they are available!
Performance by Justin Gunter
Electronic music by Tom Lopez
Friday, February 23, 8:00pm
Fairchild Chapel
Oberlin College
Still Happening will premiere this weekend on the Oberlin College campus to celebrate the retirement of Nusha Martynuk. The dance is a meditation on the ongling crisis of refugees throughout the world, including those who search for refuge among us - those for whom it's still happening, for whom it's still not safe and it's still not home. Only an empathic society can reach the core and the heart of its desenfranchised. The sound design utilizes ten speakers around the audience to evoke lands near and far, familiar and foreign, welcoming and frightening.
Choreography by Nusha Martynuk
Danced by Tory Eichler, Lola Gatti, Evelyn Morrison, Kierra Nguyen, Micaela Pirzio-Biroli, Abigail Stamats, and Louise Wurzelbacher
Electronic music by Tom Lopez
Thursday - Saturday, November 30 - December 2, 8:00pm
Warner Main Space
Oberlin College
contact Central Ticket Service at (440) 775-8169 for ticket information
I will appear on David Brancaccio's Marketplace Morning Report tomorrow morning. Depending on your local Public Radio station, it probably broadcasts at 6:51AM, 8:51AM, or 10:51AM. I suppose the program may be edited depending on the needs of the local station, so I can't promise you'll hear me. Regardless, you can hear the podcast online.
The show is about robot-proof jobs. "The McKinsey Global Institute analyzed the work activities of more than 800 occupations in the U.S. to determine what percentage of a job could be automated using current technology. It turns out, a small fraction of jobs are either entirely automatable or entirely robot-proof." My work as a composer...robot-proof!!
That's Quiet Alright will appear tomorrow tonight with video! This new release on Hanson Records will be on the first concert of the Talbertronic Festival.
Thursday, March 2, 8:00pm
Free and open to all
Clonick Hall
Oberlin Conservatory
The Dream and Lie of Trump premieres tonight! Resistance inspired by Pablo Picasso's "The Dream and Lie of Franco."
Performed by Tom Rosenkranz, piano
and Tom Lopez, laptop
Friday, February 17, 8:00pm
Free and open to all
Warner Concert Hall
Oberlin Conservatory
Inflatable Trio will premiere later this month in Los Angeles (stay tuned for more info) but tomorrow night, we will present an informal showing on the Oberlin College campus to celebrate the retirement of Carter McAdams. The dance is performed on and around an inflatable plastic living room set and looks at the ways we attempt to orient ourselves within ever-changing domestic, social and environmental terrains. The sound design will utilize eight speakers around the audience to create an immersive sonic experience.
Choreography by Lionel Popkin
Danced by Lionel Popkin, Carolyn Hall, and Samantha Mohr
Electronic music by Tom Lopez
Monday, February 13, 8:00pm
Free and open to all
Warner Main Space
Oberlin College
"Flowers for Otello" is dedicated to the families of nine immigrants and one policewoman who were maliciously murdered by the National Socialist Underground (NSU) between the years of 2000 and 2007. Due in part to state investigative authorities' refusal to seriously consider racism as a motive, these crimes went unsolved until 2011. "Flowers for Otello" addresses issues of race, memory, and violence in relation to these crimes; in a series of lamentations it offers a unique multilingual perspective on systematic racism in present-day Germany through a medium that is at once poetic, musical, and performative.
Spoken word performance in German and Turkish by Esther Dischereit and Selim Özdogan
Interpretive dance by Holly Handman-Lopez
Electronic music by Tom Lopez
Percussion by Justin Gunter
Tuesday, November 1, 6:00 – 7:00pm
Free and open to all
North Quad, Room 2435
I am excited to return to LA for a repeat of the show we did in April. I will perform music for Lionel Popkin's choreography in the exquisitely designed Tongva Park in Santa Monica. Set on and around inflatable plastic yellow living room furniture nestled in the midst of Tongva Park, Inflatable Park looks, sometimes askance, at the systems of support that surround us, including people, objects and social structures. Nine dancers lean into each other, lie on top of each other, hang off of each other and bounce off the air-filled elements of a plastic family room.
Tuesday, October 18, 7:30 – 8:30pm
Free and open to all
Tongva Park: 1615 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
We begin our TIMARA summer workshop this week and kick things off with a faculty concert with works by Peter Swendsen, Eli Stine, Francis Wilson, Eastman Presser, and Matthew Omahan. I will show Metropolitana with video of the Milan subway by Nate Pagel.
I am thrilled to announce my participation in the publication of a new book, "Composing in Choir," edited by Jody Kerchner and Katherine Strand, published by GIA Music (Spring 2016). Sonic Environments with Simple Technology details various approaches to incorporating electronic music into choral performances.
With a little blush in my cheeks, I am honored to share testamonials about my music. Please have a look at the Music page for a couple messages I received.
Please have a look at the Labels page for a list of my releases on various labels: Innova, Centaur, Oberlin Music, Vox Novus, and SEAMUS.
I am designing music for Lionel Popkin's choreography in the exquisitely designed Tongva Park in Santa Monica. Set on and around inflatable plastic yellow living room furniture nestled in the midst of Tongva Park, Inflatable Park looks, sometimes askance, at the systems of support that surround us, including people, objects and social structures. Nine dancers lean into each other, lie on top of each other, hang off of each other and bounce off the air-filled elements of a plastic family room.
Tongva Park Kicks off Third Season of Events with Tongva After Dark: Inflatable Park, a New Work by Choreographer Lionel Popkin
Wednesday, April 20, 7:30 – 8:30pm
Free and open to all
Tongva Park: 1615 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Original music performed live by Tom Lopez. Performances by Barry Brannum, Heidi Brewer, Dorothy Dubrule, Carolyn Hall, Leann Iacovetta, Samantha Mohr, Lionel Popkin, Amanda Sanchez, and Gracie Whyte. Inflatable Park is commissioned by the City of Santa Monica's Cultural Affairs Division.
I am very proud to have published an essay in The International Journal of Screendance. The Twins Paradox: bifurcation & unification was inspired by Martin Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology."
Oberlin College Spring Back Dance Concert includes Sometimes a Single Leaf with poet Esther Dischereit, dancer/choreographer Holly Handman, and a morsal of sound from yours truly - check it out tonight and tomorrow night at 8pm in Warner Main Space!
Here is a nice review by David Abrams and new acoustic music scores.
Here is a new bio and publicity photos, available under the About tab.
Tonight at 7:30, my new piece, Skipping Stones, will be performed at the 3P Festival. I'm thrilled to have it performed by eighth blackbird ensemble and players from the Oberlin Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble.
I've begun uploading video to Vimeo: Metropolitana, Underground, and Métropolitain are all available under the Projects tab. Each of these was a collaboration with video artist, Nate Pagel, and based on subway systems from around the world (Paris, London, and Milan so far).
I've begun uploading audio to SoundCloud: America Will Shoot Itself, Moth, and 17,987,547,480 are all available under the Projects tab. Each of these was composed for the Vox Novus 60x60 project, a collection of sixty, one-minute pieces.
If you are in the Detroit / Ann Arbor vicinity this weekend, please consider joining me at the Kirk in the Hills Refectory for "All Strings Considered." This concert, hosted by the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, will feature Curvatures for string quartet and live electronics. Curvatures was composed in 2001 and originally featured the Oberlin Zeta String Quartet. It's been performed over 25 times in various configurations: acoustic quartet, amplified quartet, and amplified quartet with electronics. I will attend the concert and perform the electronics at 1340 West Long Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Student tickets are $10, $22 for seniors, and the regular price is $25. Tickets and additional information are available following this link.
It's been long overdue, but I've finally updated my web site. Going forward, social media links are connected and news items should be easier to announce. It will take some time to migrate content, but eventually all the pages will have their intended material. In the mean time, please contact me if you are looking for anything: music, scores, video, bio, and so on.