Welcome to Third Practice


October 1-2, 2004 - Richmond, VA.

About Third Practice

Third Practice is an annual event presented by the Department of Music and the Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond. The aim of the festival is to present new electro-acoustic music and works for mixed media. Now in its fourth year, the festival will present works for instruments and computer, video, and stereo and multi-channel works for tape. In past years, Third Practice has featured the work of composers Evan Chambers, Natasha Barrett, and Russell Pinkston. For further information on the festival, contact Benjamin Broening.

Featured Composer:   Mario Davidovsky

Born in 1934 in Mdanos, Buenos Aires, Mario Davidovsky began his musical studies at the age of seven, continued his education at the Collegium Musicium, and graduated from the Bartolom Mitre School in Buenos Aires in 1952.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, director of the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress, director of the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, director of C.R.I., and founder and vice president of the Robert Miller Fund for Music. Fellowships have included the Koussevitzky Foundation Fellowship, the Williams Foundation Fellowship, the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. Davidovsky has received a Pulitzer Prize and awards from the Association Wagneriana, the Asociacin Amigos de la Msica, BMI, Brandeis University, and the National Institute of Arts.

Davidovsky has received numerous commissions, including ones from the Fromm Foundation, the Juilliard String Quartet, the Koussevitzky Foundation, Yale University, the New York Chamber Soloists, Parnassus, the Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Speculum Musicae, the San Francisco Symphony, MIT, the Naumburg Foundation, the Dorian Quintet, the Emerson Quartet, the New Music Consort, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

He has been on the faculties of Harvard and Columbia Universities. Davidovsky has held visiting professorships at the University of Michigan, Yale University, City University, the Di Tella Institute (Argentina), the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Pennsylvania.


Ensemble In Residence:   eighth blackbird

The Modlin Center for the Arts and the University of Richmond Music Department are pleased to announce that eighth blackbird will appear as the ensemble-in-residence at 3P04.





Technical Specifications

All Third Practice concerts will take place in Camp Concert Hall, the University of Richmond's exclusive venue for musical presentations. Our technical specifications include a breakdown of all the equipment available to our visiting composers, as well as concert hall specifications.

Why 'Third Practice'?

The term Seconda Pratica appeared in early 17th century Italy to characterize the emergence of a new compositional style that represented a departure from the modal, equal-voiced counterpoint of the Prima Pratica. The debate between practitioners of the old and new styles centered not only on innovative compositional techniques, but also on shifting compositional values. The Seconda offered composers not only new technical resources but also new ways of thinking about their craft. The development of electro-acoustic music in the latter half of the 20th century might be understood as a change comparable in many ways to that of the early 17th century. While the specifics of the musical change differ in the two cases, both musical revolutions reflect innovations in compositional technique and practice as well new compositional goals and values. The Third Practice Festival of Electro-Acoustic Music explores both the variety of the emerging electro-acoustic tradition and its relationship to past musical practices, and is committed to presenting new work through commissions and premieres.

Tickets are not required for any Third Practice event. There will be open seating for all concerts. Space may be limited, so arrive early to get a great seat!