Chicago Tribune Previews "Hypochondriac" for Frequency Festival
“What differentiates man from machine? In this percussion duo’s set, the distinction gets slippery. John Corkill and Adam Rosenblatt debut two new pieces by composers Julie Zhu and David Bird, who both use cutting-edge technology to dramatic effect.”
"What differentiates man from machine? In this percussion duo’s set, the distinction gets slippery. John Corkill and Adam Rosenblatt debut two new pieces by composers Julie Zhu and David Bird, who both use cutting-edge technology to dramatic effect. Zhu, a painter before she turned her focus to music, previously trained an AI model to predict shapes based on the sound they made as they’re drawn. Her Frequency Festival premiere, “amanuensis,” takes the same cues. The performers draw and write on a 4-by-4-foot wooden plank with charcoal; all the while, contact mics at each corner of the plank amplify the surface sounds on four correlating speakers in the Constellation space. “The audience will hear it like they’re sitting on top of the board,” says Corkill. Meanwhile, Bird’s “Hypochondriac” casts Rosenblatt as a Frankensteinish automaton and Corkill as his surgeon. Sensor pads hidden under Rosenblatt’s clothes allow both musicians to trigger Bird’s sound design through movement and touch. “There’s a sequence of actions we have to take, but we have a little bit of flexibility in how we pace it,” Rosenblatt says."
Performing on a bill with pianist Mabel Kwan, 8:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave.; tickets $20.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/12/frequency-festival-2025/
Assistant Professor of Music Technology & Digital Media at The University of Notre Dame
Starting in 2024, Bird will join the University of Notre Dame as an Assistant Professor of Music Technology and Digital Media.
“The Department of Music welcomes David Bird to O'Neill Hall of Music as Assistant Professor of Music Technology. "I am thrilled to join Notre Dame," he says. "I look forward to working with the school's excellent students and developing curricula and facilities that will foster the creation of vibrant work in composition, electronic music, and multimedia art on campus. "
Bird, who joins the Department of Music Faculty this Fall will focus on electroacoustic music, intermedia composition, and interactive media. His work explores the dramatic potential of electroacoustic and multimedia environments, often highlighting the relationships between technology and the individual. Bird's compositions have been performed at venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, as well as festivals including the Gaudeamus Festival, Wien Modern, SPOR Festival, MATA Festival, Musica Electronica Nova Festival, Festival Mixtur, and more.
Bird received his DMA. from Columbia University. Previously, he has taught courses in composition and computer music at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Hamilton College, and the Stevens Institute of Technology.
“We are excited about David raising our profile and diversifying our offerings,” said Department Chair Berthold Hoeckner, noting that “twenty years after Professor Ken Dye, Director of University Bands, taught his pioneering ‘Music through Technology’ course for the first time, David will provide Notre Dame students from across campus with opportunities to study the history of electroacoustic music and learn how to compose with the rapidly developing tools and techniques in digital music, audio production, and multimedia.”
https://music.nd.edu/news-events/news/new-music-faculty-member-focuses-on-innovation-and-music-technology/
Premiere of "Chroma" reviewed by Hyde Park Herald
“This work is glorious in the color and shading of sounds that the composer forges, with the Grossman Ensemble creating lush sound alloyed with sparkle.”
“Chroma” by David Bird explores “subtle gradients of instrumental color, as well as the malleability and reflective properties of metal.” This work is glorious in the color and shading of sounds that the composer forges, with the Grossman Ensemble creating lush sound alloyed with sparkle. This is spectral music, where rhythm is subordinate to timbral effects which Bird wrote effectively and the Grossman Ensemble performed with staggering power. The overtones they created were intense and almost hypnotic.
https://www.hpherald.com/arts_and_entertainment/another-evening-of-bracing-music-performed-by-the-grossman-ensemble/article_e387b3ea-16c6-11ef-9193-cf379186afc0.html
Wire Hums featured in AnEarful's Best Of 2023: Classical
"…Bird’s work to deconstruct the instrument sonically is deliberate and fascinating throughout. Lyricism, violence, and humor all about each other in an album that shows a whole new side to a composer whose work is always a great listen."
"The sound of a cello’s neck snapping - the result of a mistake during his teenage years - resonated through the years and led Bird to create this mystifying series of electronically-enhanced pieces. While that earlier fracture was inadvertent, Bird’s work to deconstruct the instrument sonically is deliberate and fascinating throughout. Lyricism, violence, and humor all about each other in an album that shows a whole new side to a composer whose work is always a great listen."
"Wire Hums" Featured in Bandcamp Daily
“Wire Hums is the sound of 14 cellos breaking—and dissolving, exploding, transforming and miraculously reassembling—as he pushes and processes a synthesized version of the instrument through algorithmic bottlenecks.”
“On his new album, sound artist David Bird draws inspiration from a time when, as a teenager, he accidentally broke a cello during practice. As such, Wire Hums is the sound of 14 cellos breaking—and dissolving, exploding, transforming and miraculously reassembling—as he pushes and processes a synthesized version of the instrument through algorithmic bottlenecks. The results can be playfully percussive, like “Quilted” and “Cellular Noise”; there’s also the silvery drones of “Half Tone” and “Autophasia”; and “Cyberlathe,” which arrives in swarms of Penderecki-ian hiss. Everything is in a constant state of change, a sensation best captured in “Superposition,” which shifts from perhaps the album’s tenderest moment to its most ominous. It’s a line that Bird walks masterfully throughout all of Wire Hums.”
"Wire Hums" Released on Oxtail Recordings
Using generative and algorithmic procedures to push a physically modeled cello to its limits, Bird obliterates the lines between real and unreal, physical and digital, order and chaos.
“On Wire Hums, NYC & Chicago-based composer David Bird embarks on a mission to deconstruct the cello’s familiar and tangible nature, resulting in a fresh repurposing and reimagining of this iconic instrument. Using generative and algorithmic procedures to push a physically modeled cello to its limits, Bird obliterates the lines between real and unreal, physical and digital, order and chaos.”
🎹 Composed and Produced by David Bird
🖼️ Original Album Art by Arman Chakhalyan
🔊 Mastered by Christopher Botta
🗓️November 10th, Oxtail Recordings