Caminos Terribles, Desiertos Crueles

Caminos Terribles, Desiertos Crueles (Wicked Paths, Cruel Deserts) is a media work for amplified mezzo-soprano, Yamaha Disklavier, computer-generated sound, and computer animation created in collaboration with media artist Ying Tan. The six-part, multi-media song cycle emerged from personal contemplations about what it means to cross borders and to arrive in new lands. The texts, based on poems by the Spanish author Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer describe the dangers and treacherousness awaiting those that penetrate or challenge the border's authority. Audio/video excerpts of Caminos Terribles, Desiertos Crueles have been presented at numerous festival and venues including the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States National Conference, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University, Musicacoustica-Beijing, and the International Computer Music Conference. Only the music of this visual and sonic domain collaboration is presented here.

NB Due to a non-disclosure agreement, the name of the vocalist performing this work is not provided.