TO…OBLIVION Comes To Boston Court, October 25

Boston Court Pasadena presents Alexander Miller: TO...OBLIVION - Historic Landmarks Around Los Angeles on Friday, October 25 at 8pm. This multi-media project, conceived and performed by Miller, uses electric guitar, sound effects and visuals to describe six seminal landmarks in the Los Angeles area that have been either indelibly altered or destroyed. This will be the first time his album, TO...OBLIVION is performed live in a concert setting, in its entirety.

The landmarks include places such as the Dunbar Hotel, the Zanja Madre and the Belmont Tunnel, among others. These locations are symbols of larger issues that have shaped the city, such as race, water access, or public transportation's impact on the development of the city. The suite of songs is named for a banner from the last of the Red Car subway cars to carry passengers, moving through the Belmont Tunnel.

In an interview with New Classic LA Miller expands on the multi-media aspect of the performance, "To....Oblivion is a solo electric guitar, with electronics and a video slideshow. The electronics include both live processing of the guitar as well as recorded sounds which aim to capture an impression of the acoustic environment of each site."

Miller explained the process of exploring the landmarks for his album to LAist, "I needed to hear the sounds before fully committing to each of these locations, to make sure that they would really resonate and speak to me. You're often just working in isolation in a room, and just imagining sounds, and hoping that they'll reach someone outside of that room one day. [It] was an adventure.

For tickets and more information, please visit www.bostoncourtpasadena.org or call 626.683.6801.

Alexander Elliott Miller is a composer and guitarist whose music has been described as "deceptively laid back in an LA way...inventive....unconventional" (Mark Swed, LA Times), and "wild...unearthly...lyrical...a voice worth listening to" (San Francisco Classical Voice).

His compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall and London's Mile End Art Pavilion; he has collaborated with Grammy nominated musicians including pianists Vicki Ray, Aron Kallay and soprano Tony Arnold, and had works performed by ensembles and organizations such as HOCKET, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Earplay New Chamber Music, the Boston New Music Initiative, the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Panic Duo and Duo Montagnard among others. His compositions have been presented on the programs of many California based venues and series including San Francisco's Center for New Music, Hot Air Festival and ODC Theatre, and Los Angeles' Piano Spheres, Tuesdays at Monk Space, Hear Now Festival, Synchromy, People Inside Electronics, Carlsbad Music Festival, Microfest and the LA Conservancy. He has received honors including a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Earplay Donald Aird Composers Award, a Definiens C3 Commission and the CAPMT Commissioned Composer Award.

His album TO....OBLIVION: Historic Landmarks Around Los Angeles was released in the fall of 2018, receiving local profiles in the LAist and Long Beach Press Telegram; the work is a collection of pieces inspired by six lost landmarks in LA, each of some social significance, performed by Miller on electric guitar, with sound effects and a slideshow video.

Miller is on the faculty of California State University Long Beach, where he teaches music theory, composition and musicianship at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. During the Spring of 2017 at CSULB, he served as the Interim Graduate Advisor. He also works at Chapman University, where he initiated and developed a new Composition and Songwriting course for non-music majors.

He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Southern California, a Master of Music in Composition from the Eastman School of Music, and Bachelor of Music degrees in Composition & Guitar Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The 2019 Fall Music Series is sponsored by Elaine Kramer & Al Latham. Additional sponsors include Sandy Greenstein, Diane Henderson, Tom Jacobson & Ramone Muñoz, Eileen T'Kaye & David Bischoff, Liza Beres, Bill Kennedy, Robert Leventer & Jenna Blaustein, Sarah Lyding and Michael Welsh. Additional generous support provided by The Colburn Foundation, The City of Pasadena, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts and the Peter Glenville Foundation.

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