Salvatore Martirano
January 12, 1927 – November 17, 1995
OK, new game.
I'm back in my office at the University of Illinois, shifting gears from outré writer to PHAT (?) composer. Hey, watch that outdated lingo, buddy. Thing is, we got a guest choreographer coming in this Fall to make a piece for the November Playhouse Dance show. (Hey, I don't make up the concert names around here, I just work on 'em.) The choreographer Tracy Lang, of T. Lang Dance will be making a work, and we're trying to interest her in a collab with the SalMar.
T. Lang on youtube
What the heck is that? I hear you ask. (Really. I can hear you, so pipe down out there.) Well, the wiki article is a bit skimpy, but it's got the big points. As we dig in to this work, perhaps we can contribute. In any case, the current fantasy is to fire up the SalMar (Construction - a massive and antique interactive synth, the likes of which...well, let's just say it's unique). This beast lives at the Center for American Music here on campus. (AKA: the Sousa Archive.) The SalMar has its own glass case, from which it can be played. It has been our pleasure to be down at the Center working with this instrument, but we need some lessons. Luckily for us, there's an expert here in town, an engineer name of Greg Danner, who was in on the creation of the machine back in the late 60's. He's now responsible for upkeep and restoration.
It might be a bit of a stretch to engage T. Lang on this. But when you watch her video, the score she uses is really very SalMar-esque. T. Lang, meet Sal. Sal, meet T. Lang. (Eventually, I hope to post some video of the current SalMar in action. With any luck, I'll be at the helm.)
I'll be blogging more about this and other things Martirano as we go forward. (I'm also engaged in the project of digitizing the Martirano audio archives for the Center. This project has been sort of limping along lately. But, hey, I been busy.)