soundpedro 2021 participation: Artist Curated Event (ACE) PopUp
The Unsuspecting Trees

Severin Behnen received his Ph.D. in Music Composition from UCLA in 2008 developing and testing various types of musical notation in an interactive motion graphics environment and an MA from CalArts. Since that time he has been developing musical scores in an interactive 3D environment. He performed with and composed for various musical ensembles and theaters, including the Latin folk group Cuñao. His orchestral compositions debuted at the RedCat Theater and Seoul, South Korea. The Raven Diverts the River premiered in 2019. His Messiah, an oratorio for chorus and orchestra is scheduled for performance by the Arrowhead Choral in 2022.

Hunter Ochs is an audio-visual engineer and artist with diverse practical experience and a formal education as recording engineer and music producer.

He has produced and engineered music with the California Ear Unit, and he has engineered a variety of live and studio productions for Radio Cologne (WDR), Germany. Hunter has recorded and mixed for film, audio books, and radio. As live sound reinforcement engineer, Hunter has worked at the Ojai Music Festival in California and the Ought-One festival in Vermont. Hunter has collaborated with composers Eve Beglarian, Aaron Jay Kernis, Arthur Jarvinen, and Don Preston. As interactive audivisual media designer, he has worked extensively with Morton Subotnick on a series of educational programs for children.

Hunter teaches at Chapman University, Orange. He has taught at California Institute of the Arts, at Pasadena Art Center College of Design, and lectured extensively at international conferences.

Hunter holds an engineer’s degree (Diplom-Ingenieur) from the combined audio and vision program of University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf and Robert Schumann School of Music and Media (Germany). He attended California Institute of the Arts for postgraduate studies. Hunter is based in Los Angeles.

Artist Location: Los Angeles, CA

Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2021:
The Unsuspecting Trees
Rather than using a static score to communicate musical material, I have been experimenting with the use of computer motion graphics technology to animate musical notation. Because of its flexibility, the motion graphics score has the potential to significantly alter traditional communication streams between the score and the performer. Recently I have been collaborating with computer specialist Hunter Ochs to build scores in a 3D environment. These scores are not a form of “visual music,” in which visual images reflect musical content, nor are they a form of aural interpretation of visual images. Rather, they are a communication device that serves as a dynamic guide, actively involved in the creation of the aural environment. In short, they are a three dimensional musical scores.

In The Unsuspecting Trees the “conductor” enters the virtual environment and wanders along paths, guiding an ensemble of musicians through the score.

Score Creation: Severin Behnen and Hunter Ochs
Music: Severin Behnen

Performed by The Tangled Yarn Ensemble
Severin Behnen: Piano, Keyboard, Accordion
Josel Cruz: Bass, Keyboard, Percussion
Hunter Ochs: Accordion
Sam Robles: Saxophones and Flute
Michael Saucier: Bass
Jersey Vazquez: Guitar and Conductor