Faculty recital blends mathematics and music

Music and math came together last week when  music professor Christopher Adler performed for the public. The piano recital entitled “014442103231320” was given last Thursday.
The event showcased contemporary piano music built from mathematics, celebrating not only Adler’s works but also works by Tom Johnson and Juan Campoverde Q. The recital took place in the French Parlor of Founders Hall and was comprised of five pieces.
Before the recital was set to begin, the French Parlor was filled with USD students, staff and faculty. This recital was especially exciting for the music department, as it was the first ever live broadcast of a concert.
“I’m here because you’ll never hear this kind of music anywhere else. This is an unique experience to hear at our school,” senior and music major Ryan Lynch said.
Adler opened his show by welcoming the audience with a special thanks to American minimalist composer Tom Johnson, who was visiting from his current residence of Paris, France. Originally from Colorado, Johnson often uses formulas, permutations, various mathematical models and predictable sequences to form his creations. Johnson is known for his biggest composition, “Bonhoeffer Oratorium,” a two hour work done in German for orchestra, chorus and soloist.
While Johnson was not in town to perform any of his works, he did give a free lecture on the evening of Feb. 25, entitled, “I Want to Find the Music, not to Compose It.”
It is from this idea that Johnson composed “Counting Keys” (1982-1989), which was the last piece performed in Adler’s recital.
Adler wrote that the set, “demonstrates Tom Johnson’s desire to ‘find’ the music rather than to ‘compose’ it, by seeking mathematically-inspired constructions with an intrinsic beauty that may be rendered in musical sound.”
One of Johnson’s most recent projects is entitled “Tilework,” a series of 14 pieces and composed with the inspiration of geometric principles. Each piece, also called a tile, consists of only three notes. “Tilework,” the second Johnson piece Adler performed, along with “Counting Keys,” took Adler two to three months  to learn.
Former USD music theory professor Juan Campoverde Q. composed "Aires," a series of four movements that accompany a nine-movement suite currently in progress by the musician. Campoverde Q., born in Cuenda, Ecuador, studied music at the National Conservatory of Music and at the Ponifical University.
He continued his education in the United States at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Most recently he earned his Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, San Diego.
Campoverde Q.’s music has been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Cincinnati, SONOR (the Music Ensemble of the University of California, San Diego), the ISCM World Music Days 2002 and more. Adler reports that it took him around nine months to learn the composer’s pieces.
Christopher Adler’s music draws upon over a decade of research into the traditional musics of Thailand and Laos and a background of mathematics. Currently a pianist and composer-in-residence with NOISE he received his Bachelors degrees in music composition and in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in composition from Duke University.
Adler’s works have been performed in Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Tanglewood, Merkin Hall, Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo, at music festivals across the US and Canada and of course the halls of the University of San Diego. At Thursday’s performance he performed his pieces "Carillon" and "Homophonic Construction on Notes by O. Messiaen," both of which he composed in 1994.
After the performance Freshman Kelsey Perry commented that it “is really interesting to see my professor perform. This is my first music class so the experience was something entirely new. I really enjoyed it, and am so impressed with how talented he is.”
Adler said the concert “went really well. We had a great crowd.”