Pareidolia Memories: Rachel Beetz, Julie Herndon, and Berglind María Tómasdóttir

The Department of Music presents Rachel Beetz, Julie Herndon, and Berglind María Tómasdóttir, in a program entitled Pareidolia Memories: Imagined faces in noises of sounds remembered. This collection of works and improvisations shared between the three musicians explores memory, recognition, time, places, people, and relationships between humans and non-humans. The works are intertwined with videos and sound interludes by Berglind Tómasdóttir reflecting on the theme in various ways.

The program:
Rachel Beetz — Viskuvinátta for alto flute and voice
Elín Gunnlaugsdóttir — … geym oss í dag for two alto flutes and video
Berglind Tómasdóttir — minni ii: idyll for flute and live electronics (looped flute)
Berglind Tómasdóttir — Paula’s Song: There for flute, electronics and video
Rachel Beetz, Julie Herndon, Berglind Tómasdóttir — Improvisation
Julie Herndon — Personal Devices
Julie Herndon — Electronic Etudes
Rachel Beetz — Pareidolia

As a composer, flutist, and improviser, Rachel Beetz explores presence through sound and listening. Her works recreate physical atmospheres based on her deep listening adventures in the wild, exploring hidden worlds of nature and machines. Combining experimental field recordings and electronically modified flutes, her works examine community, environmentalism, and women’s work through sound, textiles, and lighting. Her projects have been featured in concert halls and galleries in Australia, Iceland, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. You can hear her on Orenda, Blue Griffin, iikki, Neuma, and Populist record labels. She is currently a co-director of Populist Records.

Julie Herndon is a composer, performer and sound artist. Her work explores the body’s relationship to sound using musical instruments and technologies. Her compositions and installations, described as “like a signal from another world” (Tages-Anzeiger), have been presented at the MATA Festival and National Sawdust in New York, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Sonorities Festival in Ireland, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca in Mexico, Music Biennale Zagreb in Croatia, Artistry Space in Singapore, and by Forest Collective in Australia. Julie is currently Assistant Professor of music technology and composition at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Berglind María Tómasdóttir is a flutist and a composer living in Reykjavík, Iceland. In her work she frequently explores identities, archetypes and music as a social phenomenon through different mediums. Berglind has worked with composers such as Björk, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Peter Ablinger and Carolyn Chen, and received commissions from Dark Music Days, the National Flute Association, Sequences Art Festival, Reykjavík Arts Festival and Nordic Music Days to name a few. Her album, Ethereality, won the 2022 Icelandic Music Awards as the album of the year. Berglind Tómasdóttir holds degrees in flute playing from Reykjavik College of Music and the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen and a DMA from University of California, San Diego. Berglind is a professor at Iceland University of the Arts.

$15 general admission, $10 seniors, $5 students. Tickets will be available late January 2025.

Linehan Concert Hall is easy to visit, with plenty of free parking. Please visit here for directions and parking information.