Troy Rogers ’01 leads a workshop during the 2015 MNMade Festival.
Alumnus Troy Rogers ’01 returns to lead workshops at the third annual MNMade Festival Feb. 22-27 at St. Cloud State University.
Hosted by the Department of Music and the School of the Arts, the annual festival celebrates handmade electronic music from Minnesota with Rogers teaching participants how to compose for and build musical robots. Participants then perform concerts to showcase their handmade electronic music in a robotic concert of music Feb. 27.
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All events in the festival are free and open to the public. Participants are welcome to come to one or all of the festival workshops.
Rogers is a composer and instrument builder. He co-founded Expressive Machines Musical Instruments, a group that explores the potential of robotic musical instruments. Rogers has worked with one of the world’s largest and most advanced robot orchestras at the Logos Foundation in Ghent, Belgium. While there he apprenticed with Godfried-Willem Raes, developed a singing, speaking robot, and composed music.
Music Professor Scott Miller joins Rogers Feb. 23 for a class on composing for musical robots with an open workshop and rehearsal and development of Miller’s composition “Détente.”
Participants will have the opportunity to get up close and assist as Miller works to incorporate theatrical lighting with sound for “Détente.” Miller will perform the piece at the Feb. 27 concert.
All week, participants will learn about the history and practical concerns of mixing electricity, instrument building and automatons.
A new feature to this year’s festival, is a visit to the Perpich Center of the Arts for an afternoon of introducing students there to the art of robot composing.
Per Bloland, co-creator of the Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano, will give a lecture and demonstration on his handmade electronic music Feb. 26. Faculty member and piano player Shannon Sadler will perform Bloland’s “Of Dust and Sand” along with saxophonist Jeffery Kyle Hutchins in the final concert Feb. 27.
Bloland is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music — including solo, orchestral works and opera. He has received numerous awards. He last presented at St. Cloud State in 2010.
MNMade Festival 2016 Schedule
Monday, Feb. 22
1-3 p.m. Troy Rogers, “Introduction to Musical Robotics,” Performing Arts Center (PAC) 271/158
Tuesday, Feb. 23
9 a.m.-6 p.m. Troy Rogers and Scott Miller, “Composing for Musical Robots,” with open rehearsal and development of Miller’s composition “Détente,” PAC 158
Wednesday, Feb. 24
1-3 p.m. Troy Rogers, “Introduction to Musical Robotics,” PAC 271/158
Thursday, Feb. 25
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Troy Rogers, “Introduction to Musical Robotics,” Perpich Center for the Arts
Friday, Feb. 26
Noon-12:50 p.m. Per Bloland and the Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano, Ruth Gant Recital Hall
2-2:50 p.m. Per Bloland and Troy Rogers, “Instrument Building and Composition,” PAC 271
Saturday, Feb. 27
7:30 p.m. Concert featuring Troy Rogers, Shannon Sadler, Jeffery, Kyle Hutchins, Scott Miller, student composition participants and their robot orchestra, Ruth Gant Recital Hall
