The Concept

Published in July 2nd, 2008
Posted by Jon Roy in Uncategorized

A New Dissonance started by documenting the preparation, rehearsal and performance of Ben Johnston’s 10th String Quartet, providing insight to the creative process of Johnston and his unique notation methods. Ben Johnston was born in Macon, Georgia in 1926 and studied with music legends Harry Partch, John Cage and Darius Milhaud. Johnston taught composition and theory from 1951-1983 at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign. Project leader Jon Roy will combine his background in visual art, film and music to enable a historic staging of the composition by the Kepler Quartet in Madison, Wisconsin.

The name “A New Dissonance” came from something Ben said while he was explaining the goals for this summer’s rehearsal period. He said that by using Andy Stefik’s improved computer realizations of the score to more accurately get the microtones just right…that the quartet would breathe new life into the piece…that they would find a new dissonance.

Now the project, just like the 10th string quartet, has taken on a life of its own, and expanded. We continue to redefine it with each step. 

This is a first project; hopefully more to come. —-Ben Johnston

This project has been made possible by the support of the Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE) and the University of Georgia.