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The new music group California E.A.R. Unit will perform on Saturday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts at Hamilton College. The E.A.R. Unit will also present a free workshop on computer-generated music on Friday, Nov. 2, at 3 p.m. in Hamilton College's Electronic Music Studio.

"Here is music both accessible and esoteric, true to its own rules, which could also be said of this new music ensemble," according to the Los Angeles Times. Always keeping the audience guessing with an eclectic mix and innovative approach to music making, the California E.A.R. Unit has recently been awarded the American Music Center's "Letter of Distinction."

The California E.A.R. Unit is comprised of: Dorothy Stone, flute; Marty Walker, clarinet; Robin Lorentz, violin; Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello; Vicki Ray, piano; and Amy Knoles, percussion. The Los Angeles based new music ensemble is dedicated to the performance, promotion and creation of the exciting music of our time.  Founded in March of 1981, the E.A.R. Unit has brought unparalleled versatility, virtuosity and dedication to its performances and is recognized today as one of America's finest contemporary chamber ensembles. For its contributions to the field of contemporary American music, the ensemble has recently garnered the LA Weekly's Best Classical Series award.

Since 1987, the E.A.R. Unit has been Ensemble-in-Residence at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where they present their own four-concert critically acclaimed series. The E.A.R. Unit's repertoire of over 400 compositions ranges from the most demanding works for the concert hall to collaborations with major artists in other fields to create original multimedia works.  The E.A.R Unit combines a "classic" instrumentation of flute, clarinet, keyboards, percussion, violin and cello to an "anything goes" including voices, panpipes, handcuffs, playing Bach on the cello with a carrot (Cage's Theater Piece), theatrics and the latest interactive electronic media.

The Hamilton College program will include the The Fall of the House of Usher, created in 2001 by Jeff Rona, and will be performed to a silent film of the same name. This piece was inspired by the famous Edgar Allen Poe story, also of the same name. Composer Jeff Rona's diverse musical background includes composing for film, television, theater and dance, studies in world music, orchestral and concert writing, ambient, electronica, and minimalism.
 
Rona's scores include the Ridley Scott film White Squall, Barry Levinson's
critically acclaimed Homicide-Life On The Street, and Profiler. His musical contributions in other films include Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, Assassins, Mission: Impossible, and Kafka. He also has contributions on the albums "Trance Planet 5" on Triloka records and the upcoming "Leaves From The Tree on Vitamin Records," both electronica compilations. Rona has recorded, collaborated, performed music with artists and composers including Jon Hassell, Philip Glass, Brian Eno, Mark Isham and Hans Zimmer.
 
The program will conclude with "Go," a piece written for the E.A.R. Unit by James Sellars. "Go" was composed in 1997 as a kind of West-Coast-cousin to "Don't Stop," which was written in 1995 for the East Coast ensemble, Bang On A Can All Stars.

At age 17, James Sellars left his native Arkansas to study composition at Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music, where his principal teachers were David Diamond and Ludmila Ulehla.  He later took a Ph.D. at North Texas University, and presently divides his time between New York and Hartford, where he is on the composition-theory faculty at The Hartt School.
 
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for students. All seating is general admission. For more information or to order tickets, call the box office at (315) 859-4331. Box office hours are 1 - 4 p.m. weekdays.

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