MUS 11
I/O Fest 2023: The Music of Now Winter 2023

This is not the current course catalog

I/O Fest is the Williams College Music Department’s annual student-centered festival of contemporary music and creative music making, comprising concerts, workshops, outreach, and study. Over the first two weeks of Winter Study student performers, composers, and sound artists will engage in the preparation, rehearsal, and creation of new works, leading to four days of concerts at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance and the Clark Art Institute. Students enrolled in the class will choose areas of focus in performance, composition, or production and take part in all of the creative planning for the festival. Students will engage with and learn from visiting musicians and composers, and explore a world of adventurous music making, new ways of listening, and new modes of collaboration. The first phase of the class will culminate in the presentation of the festival from January 12-15, 2023. Students are required to participate in and attend all events on the festival. In the post-festival phase of the course students will participate in readings, workshops, and discussion groups related to the social, musical, and cultural ideas featured in the festival and explore issues in contemporary performance practice. Other activities will include informal group sessions on musical topics such as free improvisation, graphic scores, and sound art. There will also be a field trip to PS21 in Chatham, NY for a tour of the facility and a performance.