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Have cell phone, will make orchestral magic

Chicago Tribune
Sept. 29, 2006

How many times have you attended a classical concert where somebody announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn on your cell phones"?

The Chicago Sinfonietta will literally ring in its 20th anniversary season with a new variation on audience participation -- David Baker's "Concertino for Cell Phones and Orchestra," in its world-premiere performances Sunday in River Forest and Monday in Chicago.

Using the ring tones of mobile devices brought to the concert hall by listeners, as well as tunes played back on pre-programmed cell phones in the orchestra's percussion section, Baker's piece will attempt to create a musical dialogue between what the composer calls "organization and chaos."

"I began with the idea of creating an environment of sounds representing situations we find ourselves in every day, where many different cell-phone ring tones can be heard simultaneously," explains the composer, a longtime distinguished professor of music and chairman of the jazz department at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Read the entire article at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0609290185sep29,1,6462802.story?coll=chi-ent_music-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Learn more about Baker: http://info.music.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/22.html