DESCRIPTION:
Enjoy the April 29, 2015 premiere of Alex Shapiro's LIGHTS OUT, performed by The University of Memphis Symphonic Band, and conducted by Armand Hall, one of the co-commissioners of the piece.

For much more information about this piece, please visit:
http://www.alexshapiro.org/Lights_Outpg1.html

If you're curious about Alex Shapiro's unusual band music, please visit:
http://www.alexshapiro.org/ASWindBand.html

Some thoughts about the piece:

I suppose you could call LIGHTS OUT an "opto-physico-electro-acoustic" work for wind band, because it was conceived from the onset as a visual media piece. While it can be performed in any normal concert setting, it’s the most fun when presented in the dark, somewhat disorienting the audience with the constant motion of beautiful colored aura from glowsticks, smart phones, and small LEDs placed inside the instruments and on the musicians' mallets and fingers.

The physical and lighting aspects were composed simultaneously with the music, as an equal and additional "section" in the band just like the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and audio track. Thus, the score includes two additional staves devoted to movement and visual effects, leaving space on the page for bands to add their own ideas as well. The end result is that no two performances from any ensemble will ever be the same!

Alex Shapiro
San Juan Island, WA