Zero Empty Spaces Podcast #40 With Natick Mall Resident Artist Kevin Baldwin

Find out more about Zero Empty Spaces Natick Mall resident artist Kevin Baldwin from his studio space in Natick, Massachusetts. We believe this is the first artist studio space inside a former Burberry store located next to a Louis Vuitton in the world!
For more background, read below from Kevin's Bio & Artist Statement:
Bio:
Kevin Baldwin (Boston, MA) is a visual artist, composer, and saxophonist with extensive training in modern & experimental techniques. As a saxophonist, Kevin has traveled and performed as a soloist & in ensembles internationally, including Canada, France, Italy, and China. The New York Times called one of Kevin's performances "…precise and energetic…" Kevin has performed with numerous ensembles such as Iktus+, Ensemble Mise-en, Hotel Elefant, Qubit, Tempus Continuum Ensemble, and Inverted Space. Kevin has made a career championing modern saxophone and performance techniques; he utilizes these skills to commission and premiere a wide array of new works in solo and chamber settings.
As a composer, Kevin has received commissions and several other premieres from ensembles and individuals such as Martha Cargo, Anne H. Goldberg-Baldwin, andPlay, loadbang, and Ensemble SurPlus. Kevin has received awards and commissions in recent years, including at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, which culminated in the premiere of a new work for Ensemble SurPlus. Other important commissions include body and... and... for bass flute and an untitled work for piano; both will appear on upcoming albums. Extended instrumental techniques & noise timbres perforate his works and often become primary material, asking performers to alter their mindsets of the traditional performance paradigm. Coinciding with experiments in instrumental technique, Kevin has worked heavily with notation & the visual aesthetics of his scores to utilize semiology to change the performer's relationship between the score & sounds. Kevin's research in critical theory & the music of Edgard Varèse inspired his compositional process of "Unearthing Material." This process aims to reveal layers of material buried within the surface aesthetic of previous sonic elements.
Experiments with the visual elements of notation lead to a commission for the Inverted Space Ensemble through the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation & Research Grant. The work, titled focal point for wandering [eyes], created four graphic scores reorienting notation elements for a quartet of performers to interpret. This project, exhibited at Common Area Maintenance in Seattle, WA, began further exhibitions & collaborations exploring the visual elements of musical notation.
In addition to his artistic career, Kevin is a Lecturer in Music Theory at Northeastern University & a Contributing Writer for I Care If You Listen. Kevin received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Composition from the University of Washington in 2018 and since moved to the greater Boston area. He received his M.M in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Paul Cohen in saxophone, and Dr. Reiko Fueting in composition. Kevin earned his B.M. in Music Education & Music Composition at the University of the Pacific. He studied primarily with Dr. François Rose and Dr. Robert Coburn in composition & David Henderson in saxophone.
Artist Statement:
I am a composer, a performer, and a visual artist. My process is rooted in the appreciation of sonic events, organized in time to illuminate hidden properties or appreciate a noise for what it is. I find beauty in unearthing elements of what a sound inherently and unforgivingly is. As a result, I focus on varying mediums and techniques to unearth properties in producing sounds and the listening experience that working only in one artistic facet could not uncover.
The score of a musical work is fascinating. As a composer, I spend hundreds of hours alone with a score to unearth and present the uniqueness of every sound. I consider the physicality of a sound, both in the depth of overtones and frequencies and in the most minuscule human motions it takes to produce them. I consider texture, the harsh and grinding color of the cellist utilizing overpressured bowing, and the intimate fragility of the flutist's unstable multiphonic. I consider shape, from violent rhythmic gestures to light, lyrical flurries. I consider form, how various larger blocks made up of colors, textures, layers, and rhythms work together to highlight every unique aspect of a sound. I consider the weight of each and every observance I make, and I ensure every mark in the score best reveals the essence of a sound.
Zero Empty Spaces is a rapidly growing affordable artist studio/vacancy management company that creates affordable artist studios in vacant spaces around the country where artists can create & collaborate at an affordable price.
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