The ONCE Group was a collection of
musician
A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
s,
visual artist
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
s,
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
s, and
film-makers who wished to create an environment in which artists could explore and share techniques and ideas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The group was responsible for hosting the ONCE Festival of New Music in
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, between 1961 and 1966. It was founded by Ann Arborites
Robert Ashley, George Cacioppo,
Gordon Mumma,
Roger Reynolds and Donald Scavarda.
During the years the festival was active, a number of avant-garde composers’ works were performed along with performances in dance, jazz (
Eric Dolphy) and rock and roll. Composers represented include:
Robert Ashley,
Pauline Oliveros,
David Behrman, George Cacioppo, George Crevoshay, Donald Scavarda,
Roger Reynolds,
Gordon Mumma,
Meredith Monk
Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recordi ...
, Bruce Wise, Robert Sheff (a.k.a. 'Blue'
Gene Tyranny), and
Philip Krumm. The musical compositions and works in dance and avant-garde performance art pushed the limits of then current artistic endeavour and inclusiveness well beyond their limits. The festival served as a laboratory for the development of new approaches in both
acoustic and
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
as well as dance, film and multi-media performance.
In November 2010, the
University Musical Society and
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance (SMTD) is the undergraduate and graduate school for the performing arts of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.
The school was founded in 1880 as the Ann Arbor School of Music ...
collaborated to present a multi-day festival celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ONCE Group, entitled ONCE.MORE. ONCE.MORE was organized by
Michael Daugherty, who was the chair of composition department of the
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance (SMTD) is the undergraduate and graduate school for the performing arts of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.
The school was founded in 1880 as the Ann Arbor School of Music ...
at the time and also a former composition student of
Roger Reynolds at
Yale
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
during 1981.
Further reading
*Cohen, Milton. “Space Theatre,” from ''Dimension'' No. 14, 1963. University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library.
*Hitchcock, H. Wiley. “The Current Chronicle,” from ''Musical Quarterly'', Vol. 48, No. 2, 1962. Oxford University Press.
*James, Richard. “ONCE: Microcosm of the 1960s Musical and Multimedia Avant-Garde,” from ''American Music'', Vol. 5, No. 4. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987.
*Kasemets, Udo. “The Current Chronicle,” from ''Musical Quarterly'', Vol. 50, No. 4, 1964. Oxford University Press.
*Miller, Leta. ''ONCE and Again: The Evolution of a Legendary Festival'', from the CD Box Set Music from the ''ONCE Festival 1961–1966''. New York: New World Records CD 80567-2, 2003.
*Mumma, Gordon. “The ONCE Festival and How It Happened,” ''Arts in Society'', Vol. 4, No. 2, 1967, Madison, WI. Revised by Gordon Mumma 2008. Copyright 2008 by Gordon Mumma.
*Reynolds, Roger. Preface to score publication from ''Generation'', Vol. 15, unmarked number, 1963. University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library.
*Sheff, Robert and Mark Slobin. “Music Beyond the Boundaries,” from ''Generation'', Vol. 17, No. 2, 1965. University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library.
*Weingarten, Emily. ''The Music of ONCE: Perpetual Innovation''. July 2008.
See also
*
List of electronic music festivals
*
Live electronic music
References
External links
*Jacobson, Mark
"ONCE.MORE 50th Anniversary Festival Guide".November 2, 2010
*Lelievre, Roger
"ONCE upon a time in Ann Arbor."''The Ann Arbor News''. Sunday, April 29, 2007
*Tai, Paul.
Liner notes for ''Music from the ONCE Festival: 1961–1966''. New World Records 80567.
*Baise, Greg
"ONCE again""the metrotimes". Wednesday, October 27, 2010
*Stryker, Mark
"ONCE concerts blend '60s and today"."Detroit Free-Press". Thursday, October 28, 2010
*Firant, Laurel
"ONCE upon a time in Ann Arbor: Festival revisits groundbreaking music movement""annarbor.com". Friday, October 29, 2010
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American artist groups and collectives