Gallery Talk: David Biedenbender, Composer

Join composer David Biedenbender and poet Robert Fanning in the Contemporary Art Galleries for a conversation about Biedenbender’s work in a field of stars and the emotional impact of poetry.

in a field of stars was created out of conversations with Fanning, whose poem Infinity Room is the text for the piece and was inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms and Radiohead’s music video “Daydreaming.” Biedenbender will share more about these connections and the story behind creating this work.

After the talk, join us at 6 p.m. for a performance of in a field of stars by Khemia Ensemble in the Great Hall.

Free, no tickets required. 

David Biedenbender

Composer David Biedenbender has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as a bassist; in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, trombone, and tuba player; and by study of Indian carnatic music. His present creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive  electronic interfaces to live brain data. He has had the privilege of collaborating with and being commissioned by many renowned performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Stenhammar String Quartet, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the US Navy Band, Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble, among many others. He is currently Associate Professor of Composition in the College of Music at Michigan State University, and he holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and Central Michigan  University. He has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, the Aspen Music Festival, and in India where he studied carnatic music. For more information, visit www.davidbiedenbender.com.

Robert Fanning

Robert Fanning is the author of five full-length collections of poetry: Cage (forthcoming, Salmon Poetry, 2024), Severance (Salmon Poetry, 2019), Our Sudden Museum (Salmon Poetry, 2017), American Prophet (Marick Press, 2009), and The Seed Thieves (Marick Press, 2006), as well as two chapbooks: Sheet Music (Three Bee Press, 2015) and Old Bright Wheel (Ledge Press Chapbook Award, 2002). His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, Gulf Coast, The Atlanta Review, Waxwing, THRUSH, Diode, The Cortland Review, The Common, and many other nationally-prominent literary journals. He is a professor of Creative Writing at Central Michigan University, as well as the Founder/Facilitator of the Wellspring Literary Series in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, and the Director of PEN/INSULA POETRY, a resource for Michigan poets. For more information, visit: www.robertfanning.wordpress.com.