Hope College is hosting the internationally recognized McLean Mix, a husband-wife composer/performer duo that employs an unusual combination of interactive installations, music and technology.
Their interactive installation, "Rainforest," will be open for visits on Tuesday, April 13, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Nykerk Hall of Music.
The duo will present a lecture and demonstration titled "Music on the Edge" on Wednesday, April 14, from 3 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Both the installation and the lecture/demonstration are free. The public is invited.
McLean Mix will present a concert, "MILLing in the ENNIUM" on Wednesday, April 14, at 8 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Tickets for the concert are $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, and free to children eight and under. People with a Hope College ID will be admitted free of charge. Tickets will be sold at the door only.
The concert will feature live audio and video processing and performance on winds, voice, percussion and experimental instruments.
The "Rainforest" installation allows a visitor to "perform" rainforest-like sounds on keyboards, microphones, and acoustic instruments in five stations in an atmospheric and evocative setting.
"Can high-tech electronics and the natural realm get along together? Yes, enchantingly, in the music of composers-performers Barton and Priscilla McLean," the "San Antonio Express-News" has said.
The McLeans' unusual approach to music has led them on world-wide tours for more than 15 years after they both left careers at major universities. They are classically trained musicians and composers who are exploring new ways of integrating thematic interests into their performances.
They work in the areas of audience interactive installations or "creative playpens" through use of technology, present concerts and lecture/performances, make extensive use of visual media, and create specific thematic content drawing from sources such as intriguing experimental techniques, world music, and sounds of nature.
"A strange but intriguing aural and visual experience," reviewed "The New York Times."
Nykerk Hall of Music is located on the former 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located in downtown Holland at 86 E. 8th St.