Bowed Piano Ensemble in concert

Press Release

What: Two concerts by The Bowed Piano Ensemble

When: Thursday, April 30, 7:30 and 9:00 pm

Where:  Studio 132, Cottonwood Center for the Arts

427 East Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs

Admission $15, advance tickets on sale at Cottonwood lobby

(719) 520-1899

The Bowed Piano Ensemble was virtually declared extinct in May 2014, at the end of its run of thirty-seven years as the globe-trotting flagship undergraduate student ensemble at Colorado College, when its founder, director and chief composer, Emeritus Professor of Music Stephen Scott, retired from teaching.  But in recent months the ensemble has surprisingly been brought back to life, re-tooled as a well-trained adult group of CC alums still living and working in the Colorado Springs vicinity and nearby cities.  

Now independent of the College and housed at the recently renovated Cottonwood Center for the Arts downtown, the musicians have been rehearsing since February and are ready to perform again at the end of April.  Scott and his players will be joined by soprano Victoria Hansen for one composition, Vocalise on In a Silent Way.

Most of the sound palette of the Bowed Piano is created directly on the exposed strings, rather than the traditional mechanism of a soloist (or a duo) striking the keys.  The soloist (or duo) at the keyboard can manipulate the piano’s sound over a relatively narrow range of expressive sound qualities.  The bowed piano, however, is a different animal, or perhaps even a menagerie, when we consider all of its exotic voices.  These voices are created and deployed by many tools and techniques not used in other musics.  Some are borrowed from other disciplines, such as medicine, carpentry, engineering and physics, while others are completely unique to this idiom.

Since its beginnings in 1977, the Ensemble has evolved into a small orchestra whose ten players conjure, from one open grand piano, long, singing lines, sustained drones, chugging accordion-like figures, crisp staccato tones reminiscent of clarinets, deep drum tones and more, often simultaneously, to create a rich, contrapuntal new-chamber-music tapestry.