Alarm brings 1969 premiere to Duke

Music has changed a lot in the past 40 years. But in one night, it will change even more.

Alarm Will Sound, a 20-piece, genre-defying chamber orchestra, will play the world premiere of 1969 Feb. 13, celebrating the musical, social and political culture of that year. The piece, which blends dialogue, music and visual elements, was conceived by Alarm Will Sound's artistic director, Alan Pierson.

For 1969, Pierson drew on the failed meeting between John Lennon and German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. The two artists planned to create a piece in New York that would cross genres and redefine music. But a snow storm prevented the meeting. Forty years later, Alarm Will Sound is celebrating the ambitions of these two musicians with their multimedia show.

1969 will incorporate selections from the catalogs of Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles, Italian experimental composer Luciano Berio and Stockhausen. In the performance, the group will move around the stage and incorporate photos and video. Beyond defying the boundaries of music, Alarm Will Sound is defying traditional notions of the concert.

"For the audience, if this works, it will be a totally immersive experience. There will be something to look at, something to read," said Andy Kupfer, who wrote 1969. "It's appealing to multiple sensors."

Gavin Chuck, Alarm Will Sound's managing director, said this is the group's most ambitious project.

"We're really interested in pushing [the] limit for ourselves as well as our audience," he said. "We hope it excites the audience as much as it excites us. It's a risk. But if there's a payoff, it's because of the risk."

Duke Performances Director Aaron Greenwald invited the group to perform over a year ago. Although, all the elements of the performance were drafted before coming to Duke, the group has spent the past week in residency, rehearsing in Reynold Industrial Theater.