Rolnick, Neil (Burton)

Rolnick, Neil (Burton) , American composer and teacher; b. Dallas, Oct. 22, 1947. After studying English literature at Harvard Univ. (B.A., 1969), he studied composition with Adams and Imbrie at the San Francisco Cons. of Music (1973–74) and with Felciano and Wilson at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (M.A., 1976; Ph.D., 1980); he also studied with Milhaud at the Aspen (Colo.) Music School and received training in computer music from Chowning at Stanford Univ. (summer, 1976). He pursued research at IRCAM in Paris (1977–79). Rolnick has performed with various ensembles, including Dogs of Desire, a “multimedia orch. of the future,” which he co-founded, in 1994, with David Alan Miller. He has received numerous awards, grants, and fellowships, including a Fulbright fellowship (1989) for travel to Yugoslavia and a Rockefeller Foundation grant (1994) for extended residence at the Bellagio Center in Italy; in 1995 he worked in Japan on a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council. From 1981 he taught at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. in Troy, N.Y. In 1994, with Paul Lansky and Joel Chadabe, he founded the Electronic Music Foundation in Albany, N.Y. In 1995 Rolnick began a collaborative effort with Joel Chadabe called 2 Places @ Once, now an ongoing project which exploits the possibilities of teleconfer-enced musical and video performance. The first performance took place at The Kitchen in N.Y. and the Electronic Cafe International in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 8, 1998. In 1996 he also began performing with 6 other musicians as Fish Love That, a band committed to the exploration of “the landscape between composition and multi-images improvisation.” In addition to the works listed below, Rolnick collaborated on a video with John Sturgeon, Melting Pot (1985).

Works

Massachusetts F for String Quartet, Percussion, and Piano (1974); Empty Mirror for Tape (1975); Hell’s Bells for Tape (1975); Newsical Muse, live electronic music for radio (Berkeley, KPFA-FM Radio, June 4, 1975); SF Hack for Tape and Percussion (1975; in collaboration with M. Haller; also for Video); Memory for Tape (1976); Thank You, Thelonius for Trumpet, Trombone, Cello, Marimba, and Cimbalom (1976); Video Songs for Tape (1976); A Po-sy, a Po-sy for Tenor, Violin, Double Bass, Percussion, and Tape, to texts by Charles Olson (1976; rev. 1981); Blue Monday for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Violin, Cello, and Percussion (1977; rev. for 13 Instruments and Synthesizer, 1983); Ever-livin’ Rhythm for Percussion and Tape (1977); Wondrous Love for Trombone and Tape (1979); Blowing for Flute (1980); No Strings for 12 Winds, 2 Pianos, 4 Percussion, and Organ (1980); Lao Tzu’s Blues for Tenor and Piano (1981); Loopy for Synthesizer (1982); Real Time for Synthesizer and 13 Instruments (1983); The Original Child Bomb Song for Soprano and Synthesizer (1982); R La Mode for S ynthesizer and Synthesizer (1985); The Master Speed for Chorus, Instruments, and Synthesizer (1985); What Is The Use?, film music (1985); A Robert Johnson Sampler for Computer (1987); Melting Pot, video work (1987; in collaboration with J. Sturgeon); Vocal Chords for Jazz Singer, Digital Delay, and Sampler (1988); Drones and Dances for Chamber Orch. and Synthesizer (1988); Balkanization for Computer (1988); J Like It for 2 Singers and Computer (1989); ReRebong for Gamelan and Computer (1989); Macedonian Air Drumming for Computer with Air Drum MIDI Controllers (1990); Sanctus, electronic film score (1990); Electricity for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Synthesizer, Sampler, and Digital Processing (1991); Nerve Us for Computer (1992); Requiem Songs for the Victims of Nationalism for 2 Singers, Percussion, and Computer (1993); Heat: The Rise and Fall of Isabella Rico for 2 Singers, Amplified Chamber Orch., and Video (1994); An Irish Peace for Variable Instruments (1994); HomeGame for 2 Actos, 5 Instruments, Interactive Video, and Computer-mediated Story Generation (1994–95); The Rico Songs and Interludes (1997–98); The Rise & Fall of Isabella Rico, musical (1999–2000).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire