Join us for UMBC’s 13th annual Livewire new music festival, an exploration of new sounds presented in six concerts over four days, October 18 to 21. What is the role of music in our society? What are the inherent powers that lie within music to transform our lives? These are the questions that will be pondered in this year’s Livewire 13: Transformation festival through music, featuring ensembles and works that specifically address music’s role in bringing about transformation on a personal and global level.

The Livewire 13: Transformation festival's inaugural concert features pianist Idith Meshulam Korman, who for ten years has taught piano in a correctional facility. Over the course of time, she has witnessed how music can empower individuals with a renewed sense of identity and life perspective, bringing about healing and reduced recidivism. In the spirit of kinship, Meshulam will perform works that have made the most impact on her students.

The second of six events in UMBC's annual Livewire new music festival features Ruckus, the faculty new music ensemble. The evening's performance includes three world premieres of works by professor of music Linda Dusman, alumna Karena Ingram ’16 and exchange student Vittoria Tchotche from Piacenza Conservatory.

In this third of six concerts on UMBC's annual Livewire new music festival, the ensemble Duo della Luna presents a program that explores transformation within music. For this performance, the Duo, comprised of soprano Susan Botti, and violinist Airi Yoshioka, will be joined by harpist Jacqueline Pollauf and percussionist Dustin Donahue as guest artists. The program features works by Rahilia Hasanova, Kathryn Blake, Ashkan Behzadi, Susan Botti, Kaija Saariaho, and Wes York.

In the fourth of six concerts on UMBC's annual Livewire festival, the New York City-based chamber music collective Decoda presents a transformative program of new works by an array of groundbreaking American composers for flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello and piano. Their performance will include works by Anna Clyne, Mario Diaz de Leon, Valerie Coleman, Christopher Ceronne, Andy Akiho, Brad Balliett, and by incarcerated people in Lee Correctional Institution and Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

The fifth of six concerts in Livewire: Transformation will feature works by UMBC student composers Ida Dierker, Valarous Lingham, Aaron Statham, and D'Juan Moreland (in addition to works by Mark Appelbaum, Juri Seo, Margaret Brouwer, and Yaz Lancaster), and performances by student musicians Brandon Gouin, Brendan Witt, Angela Hayward, Henry Smith, Ida Dierker, Lucas Rose, Joshua Epstein, Logan Miller, Gaby Echiverri, Nicole Johnson, and the UMBC Percussion Ensemble.

The finale of the Livewire: Transformation festival features the ensemble Stick&Bow, a Montreal-based marimba and cello duet known for their riveting performances. Their program brings pieces from the past and the present, featuring artists from another era who tried to make this world a better place through the power of their voices, ranging from Beethoven to David Bowie.