Duration is 120 minutes with a 10-minute intermission.
Age guidance 12+.
In order to protect the copyright of the lecturer and the quality of the activity, please do not take pictures during the lecture.
For related questions, please contact artisticplanning@npac-weiwuying.org.
The organizer reserves the right to change this event.
【2025 Weiwuying International Music Festival】The Outsider:The Story of Harry Partch
Choosing to escape in pursuit of freedom, in both music and life—The Outsider: The Story of Harry Partch chronicles the musical philosophy and life journey of 20th-century American avant-garde composer, music theorist, and instrument inventor, Harry PARTCH.
PARTCH rejected the constraints of the twelve-tone hierarchy, instead basing his work on pure tuning and developing a unique microtonal music system. To bring his sonic vision to life, he designed new instruments and notation systems, while striving for a performance style rooted in "corporeality."
The documentary was first broadcast on BBC television, and contains extraordinary archive footage of PARTCH, as well as appearances by Philip GLASS, Betty FREEMAN and Madeline TOUTTELOT.
PARTCH believed that "truth always threatens the ruling hierarchy." In his quest for both musical and existential truth, he was willing to embrace the role of an outsider, in order to achieve true freedom. This documentary is not merely a portrayal of a musician's life, but a profound reflection on a philosophy that can inspire our own lives.
Post-talk
2025/4/19(Sat)17:40 Lecture Hall
Guest｜Augusta Read THOMAS
Host｜CHEN Yi-Chen
How to register
Prospective participants: The lecture is suitable for those who love art and humanities.
Registration deadline : April 13, 2025 (Sun.) 23:59pm (GMT+8).
Number of on-site participants is limited to 100. Places are limited and are reserved strictly on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Symposium registration procedure: Weiwuying website online registration → receiving confirmation mail → registration complete.
Production
Director｜ Darren CHESWORTH
Producer｜Glenn BARDEN
Composer｜Harry PARTCH
Written by Charles COREY, Ph.D. (Director and Curator of the Harry Partch Instrumentarium)
Harry PARTCH was an American composer, philosopher, inventor, instrument builder, and much more. PARTCH was born in Oakland, California, on June 24, 1901, and spent much of his early years in the American Southwest, where he was exposed to music and sound from a variety of cultures. He enrolled at the University of Southern California to study composition but was dissatisfied and ultimately left to work on his own. After discovering the work of Hermann von HELMHOLTZ, PARTCH began to explore just intonation, and ultimately settled on this system for his compositional needs. He invented his “Adapted Viola” in New Orleans, Louisiana, and began setting poems by LI Po for his new instrument and voice.
While his early work was met with some support and small grants, the Great Depression forced PARTCH to spend many years as a transient, and only rarely was he able to continue his artistic work. It was during these years that PARTCH collected the texts and experiences that would later form the basis for The Wayward.
After the Great Depression ended, PARTCH again found success with small grants and support from the Guggenheim Foundation. In the period from 1941–1956, he composed and rewrote over a dozen works, invented and built over a dozen instruments, arranged several performances and recordings of his works, and wrote the first edition of his book, Genesis of a Music.
In 1956, PARTCH began a very fruitful residency at the University of Illinois where he found support for his compositions and performances. Here he met Danlee MITCHELL, composed another five works, and continued inventing and building instruments to meet his increasing compositional needs. Harry left the University of Illinois in 1962, moving to California.
He spent the last 12 years of his life in various locations near the California Coastline. These years would see more creative work, major productions of his total-theater pieces, and a greatly expanded second edition of his book. Harry PARTCH died in San Diego, California, on September 3, 1974.
Guest & Composer-In-Residence for the 2025 Weiwuying International Music Festival｜Augusta Read THOMAS
Augusta Read THOMAS is one of the most critically acclaimed, important, and widely performed composers working today. A composer featured on a Grammy-winning CD by Chanticleer and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, THOMAS’s impressive body of work "embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry" (American Academy of Arts and Letters). She was also named the 2016 Chicagoan of the Year.
In addition to her achievements as a composer, Augusta founded and directs the Center for Contemporary Composition and the Grossman Ensemble at the University of Chicago. Selected recent commissions include works for the BBC Proms, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the New York Philharmonic.
Cultural Development Partner
 |
【2025 Weiwuying International Music Festival】The Outsider:The Story of Harry Partch
Choosing to escape in pursuit of freedom, in both music and life—The Outsider: The Story of Harry Partch chronicles the musical philosophy and life journey of 20th-century American avant-garde composer, music theorist, and instrument inventor, Harry PARTCH.
PARTCH rejected the constraints of the twelve-tone hierarchy, instead basing his work on pure tuning and developing a unique microtonal music system. To bring his sonic vision to life, he designed new instruments and notation systems, while striving for a performance style rooted in "corporeality."
The documentary was first broadcast on BBC television, and contains extraordinary archive footage of PARTCH, as well as appearances by Philip GLASS, Betty FREEMAN and Madeline TOUTTELOT.
PARTCH believed that "truth always threatens the ruling hierarchy." In his quest for both musical and existential truth, he was willing to embrace the role of an outsider, in order to achieve true freedom. This documentary is not merely a portrayal of a musician's life, but a profound reflection on a philosophy that can inspire our own lives.
Post-talk
2025/4/19(Sat)17:40 Lecture Hall
Guest｜Augusta Read THOMAS
Host｜CHEN Yi-Chen
How to register
Prospective participants: The lecture is suitable for those who love art and humanities.
Registration deadline : April 13, 2025 (Sun.) 23:59pm (GMT+8).
Number of on-site participants is limited to 100. Places are limited and are reserved strictly on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Symposium registration procedure: Weiwuying website online registration → receiving confirmation mail → registration complete.
Production
Director｜ Darren CHESWORTH
Producer｜Glenn BARDEN
Composer｜Harry PARTCH
Written by Charles COREY, Ph.D. (Director and Curator of the Harry Partch Instrumentarium)
Harry PARTCH was an American composer, philosopher, inventor, instrument builder, and much more. PARTCH was born in Oakland, California, on June 24, 1901, and spent much of his early years in the American Southwest, where he was exposed to music and sound from a variety of cultures. He enrolled at the University of Southern California to study composition but was dissatisfied and ultimately left to work on his own. After discovering the work of Hermann von HELMHOLTZ, PARTCH began to explore just intonation, and ultimately settled on this system for his compositional needs. He invented his “Adapted Viola” in New Orleans, Louisiana, and began setting poems by LI Po for his new instrument and voice.
While his early work was met with some support and small grants, the Great Depression forced PARTCH to spend many years as a transient, and only rarely was he able to continue his artistic work. It was during these years that PARTCH collected the texts and experiences that would later form the basis for The Wayward.
After the Great Depression ended, PARTCH again found success with small grants and support from the Guggenheim Foundation. In the period from 1941–1956, he composed and rewrote over a dozen works, invented and built over a dozen instruments, arranged several performances and recordings of his works, and wrote the first edition of his book, Genesis of a Music.
In 1956, PARTCH began a very fruitful residency at the University of Illinois where he found support for his compositions and performances. Here he met Danlee MITCHELL, composed another five works, and continued inventing and building instruments to meet his increasing compositional needs. Harry left the University of Illinois in 1962, moving to California.
He spent the last 12 years of his life in various locations near the California Coastline. These years would see more creative work, major productions of his total-theater pieces, and a greatly expanded second edition of his book. Harry PARTCH died in San Diego, California, on September 3, 1974.
Guest & Composer-In-Residence for the 2025 Weiwuying International Music Festival｜Augusta Read THOMAS
Augusta Read THOMAS is one of the most critically acclaimed, important, and widely performed composers working today. A composer featured on a Grammy-winning CD by Chanticleer and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, THOMAS’s impressive body of work "embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry" (American Academy of Arts and Letters). She was also named the 2016 Chicagoan of the Year.
In addition to her achievements as a composer, Augusta founded and directs the Center for Contemporary Composition and the Grossman Ensemble at the University of Chicago. Selected recent commissions include works for the BBC Proms, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the New York Philharmonic.
Cultural Development Partner
|
Duration is 120 minutes with a 10-minute intermission.
Age guidance 12+.
In order to protect the copyright of the lecturer and the quality of the activity, please do not take pictures during the lecture.
For related questions, please contact artisticplanning@npac-weiwuying.org.
The organizer reserves the right to change this event.
