L²Ork

Given the lack of fresh blogging on our front page, one might have begun to wonder if L2Ork had filed for whatever is the academic equivalent of Chapter 11. In part to dispel such unfounded concerns, it is my hope the following post is going to assure you L2Ork is not only still here, it is stronger than ever. It is simply that we’ve all been tremendously busy this past semester and as such our blogging activities have taken a back seat until things settled down a bit. So, what have we been up to?

Our membership has been on a steady rise and our infrastructure keeps improving on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, apart from upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 (a.k.a. Long Term Support release), we’ve had a slew of pd-l2ork updates to the point we now maintain our own Git hub. Most recently, pd-l2ork has introduced infinite undo and a number of graphically-friendly editing options that should make creating pieces for the ensemble a breeze (belated warning: non-geek readers may want to simply skip the previous two sentences altogether :-).

Technical matters aside (as exciting as they may be), the fall has proven an intense semester, indeed. Apart from the Virginia State Fair which has also spawned flattering media coverage, L2Ork has also had shows at Ferrum College as well as Blacksburg’s Gilbert Linkous Elementary, where we’ve received standing ovations for performances of pieces I honestly worried would be too long and slow-paced for kindergarten, elementary and middle school children. With such thankful audience I must say that performance is definitely among my favorites. And as if that weren’t enough, kids from the entire school have drawn and mailed us literally dozens upon dozens of thank you cards featuring scenes and student impressions from our performance! Finally, in early November, I took a trip down to Texas A&M for an invited lecture and performance as part of the award L2Ork received this past February.

All in all, it’s been a busy semester and with the newfound Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts & Technology (ICAT) now in full swing, it appears the next semester will be even more intense (more on that soon…). So, while we are all trying to catch our collective breaths, spend some quality time with our families, and indulge in eggnog, I invite you to check out latest version of pd-l2ork, visit our YouTube page, join our Facebook page, or follow us via our new Twitter account (many thanks to L2Orkists for their initiative on this one!). I wish you all very best for the Holidays and a Happy New Year!

It’s been a while since we posted anything here. Rest assured, this is not because we’ve somehow forgotten about L2Ork or worse yet given up right when things got really exciting. Rather, the beginning of a semester is always a busy time for everyone involved and this year was no exception. So, to remedy the acute lack of fresh blogs, I am hereby posting a brief but nonetheless exciting announcement about our upcoming visit to the Virginia State fair. From September 29th until October 9th, L2Ork will be manning a booth with promotional materials and demo stations for visitors to explore. On the last two days of the fair (October 8th an 9th) L2Ork will be also performing four concerts on the Fair’s main stage. This will also be the first time the ensemble will require a full-blown PA system as we will be performing on an outdoor stage. Should be fun!

So, if you are in the area, stop by and say hi! :-)

Can’t believe we are less than four hours away from home. Currently waiting at Newark airport for our last connection to Charlotte, NC where Michael and Alec will be waiting with two 12-passenger vans to take us back to Virginia Tech (approx. 2.5 hour ride from the airport).

Looking back, it’s been an amazing three weeks full of surprises, twists, turns, curve balls, and stories we all will be retelling for many seasons to come. More importantly, it’s been a tour filled with successful performances.

Last night, we played as part of the closing concert at the international NIME conference in Oslo, a performance that I think was particularly well received. As I write this, my computer is slowly chewing on the video footage which I will be uploading to our YouTube page as soon as it is done.

Yesterday, I also received an email informing me that another interview aired on Croatian National TV (HTV) as part of the e-Hrvatska show covering our performance in Zagreb. You can view the video here.

I would like to use this opportunity to once again sincerely thank our Stakeholders who have generously sponsored this gargantuan undertaking. Likewise, I would like to thank our guest soloists Ron Coulter and Aurora Martin who have been brave (crazy? :-) enough to partake in the tour. I would also like to acknowledge my European Colleagues who have helped me coordinate venue planning, Robin Gareus, Marc Groenewegen, and Martin Kaltenbrunner. Finally, I would like to thank all l2orkists for their selfless contributions and sacrifices that have made this tour possible. Have a great summer all! You’ve definitely deserved it!

It seems the farther we go west, the more “unique” our accomodations are. Our initial Amsterdam hostel was, well… unique indeed. Now that the ensemble has moved to STEIM for the rest of our Amsterdam stay we are hopeful things will improve. Something else I noticed since filling out a couple of those hostel registrations leaving my VT email (call it trying to be honest, or better yet, just plainly naive), my inbox spam has literally quadrupled. And then, there are those pesky Icelandic volcanoes with impossible names, one of which is now causing a bit of a headache due to our pending departure from Oslo scheduled for Thursday next week. Let’s hope that wind takes care of the ash by then so that our return is safe, timely, and uneventful.

Yesterday evening, we held a workshop at STEIM to an enthusiastic audience. Having been given an opportunity to recap the milestones L2Ork has achieved over the past two and a half years made me realize just how far we’ve come.

Tonight, we will be performing at Zaal100 @ 8:30pm, as part of an HKU event. More soon…

Eleven days behind us and another eleven to go, today marks the midpoint of the tour. Having performed last night at Hamburg’s Academy of Music and Theater as part of the Blurred Edges Festival, we are using one day to catch-up with sleep and follow-up on outstanding matters. For one, I spent a better part of today producing long overdue L2Ork performance videos. Consequently, we got seven new videos ready out of which four have been already uploaded onto the DISIS YouTube channel. Similarly, we’ve been trying to consolidate tour photos which should be finding their way onto the media and facebook pages hopefully soon. Tomorrow morning, we head to Amsterdam. On the 24th we have a workshop at STEIM, followed by two performances, in Amsterdam on 25th, and Utrecht on 26th. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

As they say, what does not kill you makes you stronger. With the bout of challenges the ensemble faced over the past few days we approached our next venue in Zagreb’s magnificent Museum of Contemporary Arts (event page) with great caution. And it seems that our preparedness has indeed paid off. Not only did we land a series of interviews, including the nationwide RTL TV (broadcast today as part of the 6:30PM national news, fast-forward to 26:17 on the timeline for our segment) and the Croatian National Radio, but our story also aired in the most unsuspecting places, such as the popular Croatian computer magazine. More so, ensemble’s creative output has been compared to famous artists such as Stockhausen and Cage, as well as Einsturzende Neubauten, something that we’ve found quite flattering. Following the concert, once again the stage was swamped with curious audience members, something that has by now become the staple of our concerts. Needless to mention the event was a great success that has left us all energized and motivated more than ever before.

Tomorrow 11am-3pm, a national radio show titled “Putovi Hrvatske Glazbe” (loosely translated as “Paths of Croatian Music”) will air featuring L2Ork works and an interview, followed by additional broadcasts of various pieces over the next couple of weeks. Similarly, a TV show titled e-Hrvatska (e-Croatia) will in coming days air on the national HTV an interview with excerpts from the performance. We will make sure to keep you posted as soon as we know more. We are also working on editing video footage which we will be posting hopefully soon. In the meantime, to keep up with latest tour developments, join our facebook page. For a media fix, check out David’s L2Ork tour photo journal.

Next stop, May 21st @ 8PM at Hamburg, German, with a performance at the Academy of Music and Theater.

As I battle a monster jetlag-exhaustion combo driven by an insane concert schedule, I caught myself pondering the following: in a society driven by an incessant pursuit of elusive perfection it seems like we are always trying our hardest to present ourselves as being something we clearly can never be–perfect. So, instead of propagating a fake ideal image of what a tour might seem to an outside viewer, here is an alternative, “behind the curtains” view of our ambitious undertaking in hope it may provide some wisdom to those who might be considering initiatives of similar nature and scope.

During our three-leg flight, we went through four (yes, you read that right, four) TSA checkpoints tripping additional security checks at every single one of them with our ominous looking hemi speakers that have confounded even most experienced TSA officers. In Charlotte (the point of origin for most of us), over half of students were unable to obtain their boarding passes for connecting flights. This, in combination with the fact we had to deplane our original flight in Charlotte due to a “mechanical problem,” we barely made it to our overseas flight literally minutes before its departure. As if begging for trouble, due to preexisting logistic challenges not all l2orkists shared the common itinerary. Ron joined us at Charlotte airport barely making it through security in time for our joint departure, while John joined us in Frankfurt. My advice? Don’t do this.

Knowing how much punishment checked luggage is commonly subjected to during air travel, we bought a hard-shell suitcase for our subs and supporting L2Ork accessories. Yet, upon arriving to Linz we discovered the brand new suitcase not only had a nasty rip in its plastic shell, but one of the subs inside it had a leg completely torn off (including a piece of its wooden enclosure), despite the fact we stuffed the entire suitcase with shock-absorbing foam-like material. So, I spent an afternoon in Linz between the workshop and a concert seeking inventive ways to fix the sub. Luckily, it all worked out since Martin generously offered access to his studio. Following the late Linz gig, on our way back to the hotel we were caught completely unprepared in a rainstorm which once again tested our L2Ork bags to their very limits.

Next destination, Ljubljana. As we were setting up in Kino Šiška, we discovered that one of the stations were not properly packed and that we left behind 3 critical cables (speaker, sub, and network), effectively rendering one station inoperable. While we did bring along an additional station as a backup plan and thus were able to compensate for this unfortunate loss, another one of these slip-ups and entire tour will be in jeopardy. And we are barely getting started…

And then there is the Budapest gig. The train to Ljubljana ran quite late begging a critical question whether we would be able to make it to Budapest in time for our 7pm gig where we had barely an hour between our anticipated arrival (following an 8-hour journey of the only train connection between Ljubljana and Budapest) and the beginning of the concert. Following our last night’s performance the ensemble spent two hours deliberating possible alternatives and finally arriving at the most dreaded, yet the only rational option of having to cancel our Budapest gig. Swallowing a bitter pill is never fun, but when one spends a year in planning an event just to cancel it less than 24 hours before the performance, it is plainly unbearable.

Nonetheless, there are many exciting things ahead of us and the one-day break has given us a chance to catch our breath and recoup some of the precious energy. Looking forward, despite all the curve balls we’ve been dodging for the past couple days, I cannot help but feel optimistic. We still have tons of exciting venues ahead of us. Our next stop? Zagreb’s magnificent Museum of Contemporary Arts and a performance on May 18th @ 6pm as part of the International Day of Museums.

I cannot help but chuckle at the mysterious ubiquity of number 13 in our Friday’s arrival to Linz, Austria: 13 l2orkists flew on Friday the 13th with the last leg leaving Frankfurt at 13h (1pm)–prime number bonanza, to say the least. Going through the TSA checkpoints with our hemi speakers has been, well, an adventure :-). But, in the end, it all worked out just fine. In the process, we even got a great idea for our next poster…

Yesterday, still under heavy jet lag, L2Ork held a 3-hour workshop, followed by a 9pm performance as part of the LiWoLi festival. Our concert was complemented by Martin Kaltenbrunner’s improv on the cool Reactable (many thanks Martin!). Footage to follow hopefully soon. Our engagement as part of LiWoLi has been covered by two Austrian technology-oriented news sites.

Today, after another night with less than 3 hours of sleep we got up early to catch a 7am train to Ljubljana where we arrived seven hours later. Despite being long, the train ride was really comfortable and going through the Alps was awe inspiring (at least for those who managed to stay awake). Later this evening at 9pm, we will be performing at Kino Šiška.

P.S. I was also really pleased to have found our custom L2Ork bags living up to their expectations of not only fitting perfectly in the overhead compartment of three different jam-packed airplanes, but also under the seat. Yay! ;-)

To keep up with our latest blog bits, check us out on our Facebook page.

I guess holding off on the big announcement any longer would be simply uncivilized ;-), so here it goes…

After 8 months of planning, fundraising a metric ton of greenbacks, and literally thousands of hours of hard work distributed across dozens of souls, L2Ork is truly excited to announce our maiden tour of Europe May 12 – June 1, 2011. Joining forces with our guest soloist Ron Coulter and our talented soprano l2orkist Aurora Martin, the ensemble will be touring 7 countries, performing and holding workshops in following locations:

May 14 – Linz, Austria (as part of LiWoLi festival)
May 15 – Ljubljana, Slovenia (Kino Šiška)
May 18 – Croatia (Museum of Contemporary Arts)
May 21 - Hamburg, Germany (Academy of Music and Theater)
May 24 - Amsterdam, Netherlands (STEIM)
May 25 – Amsterdam, Netherlands (Zaal 100)
May 26 – Utrecht, Netherlands (HKU)
May 30 – Paris, France (IRCAM)
June 01 – Oslo, Norway (NIME 2011)

I cannot thank enough to all who have generously contributed their precious time and helped us make this opportunity a reality: Ron Coulter, Robin Gareus, Marc Groenewegen, l2orkists, as well as our Stakeholders, both new and old who have played critical role in meeting the needs of our formidable budget.

So, there you have it! The cat is finally out of the bag :-). Hope to see you at one of our upcoming destinations! In the meantime, to stay up-to-date with the latest developments join our facebook page.

Well, it’s been a week since our weekend marathon and the adrenaline is finally subsiding :-). And what a series of performances has it been! Starting with the sneak peek at Roanoke College on April 8th and followed by two benefit events on Virginia Tech campus in front of a nearly full concert hall (I must admit I was a bit concerned how many people we might get considering this was our first ticketed event), things ran smoother than ever. More so, this time the spring event was bigger than ever with four guest artists Ron Coulter (percussion), Brad Garton (electronics), Peter Kirn (electronics), and Dave Phillips (electronics). We’ve also had (thanks to all the hard work of Michael Matthews) a really funny piece for the 4th and 5th graders that integrated Renoise with pd-l2ork (which, by the way has seen a slew of recent releases with really cool improvements).

Consequently, I would like to use this opportunity to once again thank all our guests, supporters, partners, sponsors, as well as our Stakeholders without whom none of this would’ve been possible or made any sense.

Speaking of Stakeholders, you may have noticed in the recent weeks that our list of Stakeholders found on the right side of this page has grown considerably from 13 to 20. It is therefore my great pleasure to welcome our latest Virginia Tech Stakeholders: Alumni Relations, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Institute for Distance & Distributed Learning, Learning Technologies, Office of Academic Assessment, Outreach & International Affairs, and School of Performing Arts & Cinema. This exciting development naturally begs a question–why such a sudden influx of new members? Well… let me tell you…

(to be continued ;-)