Experimental performance to highlight salon series

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RIT Orchestra

The Stan McKenzie Salon Series will feature a presentation by SungYoung Kim and the RIT String Quartet on Feb. 12.

The RIT community is invited to the next iteration of the Stan McKenzie Salon Series, which will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Feb. 12 in the Stan McKenzie Commons on the first floor of RIT’s Liberal Arts Hall.

The presentation will feature experimental performances by the RIT String Quartet and RIT performing arts faculty members and will use engineering technology to turn an ordinary room into a virtual auditorium environment that is ideal for chamber music.

The core technologies used for this performance are virtual acoustics, electro-acoustics and sampling reverberator. According to SungYoung Kim, RIT assistant professor of electrical, computer and telecommunications engineering technology, these technologies will allow them to create a virtual auditory space with different acoustic characteristics than the physical space the listeners are in.

Kim will be presenting the performance along with Carl Atkins, fine arts professor and director of the music program at RIT, and students in the RIT String Quartet, coached by Carolyn Goodman, concertmaster for the RIT Orchestra and RIT’s violin/viola teacher.

A brief reception with refreshments will begin at 4 p.m., with the presentation scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.

“I hope people take away that technology has the potential to transform performance spaces so that even spaces that are not ideal acoustically for, say chamber music, can become a virtual auditorium,” said Michael Laver, associate professor of history and director of the Stan McKenzie Salon Series.

The series, created as part of the Stan McKenzie Salon Endowed Fund—named for the former provost and retired longtime English department faculty member—allows students, faculty and staff to discuss current research and events, bring speakers to campus and help with event marketing.

For more information, contact Michael Laver at mslgsh@rit.edu.