New York, NY: April 22, 2021 — Legendary soprano Renée Fleming performs a new version of Tod Machover’s Gammified, titled VocaGammified, written for her and presented as part of Cal Performances’ digital series Illuminations—“Music and the Mind.” The performance premieres on April 29 and remains available on-demand through July 28. Gammified was originally commissioned by The Kronos Quartet and was recently added to the Kronos’ growing online compendium of its massive commissioning project “Fifty for the Future.” The Kronos’ new recording of Gammified, along with full score and parts available for download, Machover’s program notes, a video interview and more, are now available online.
Gammified is a piece for string quartet and electronics that uses cutting-edge research from the MIT Media Lab, where Machover is Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media. The piece’s electronic track features Gamma frequencies, which have begun to show highly promising results for resynching the brain, promoting mental wellbeing and reversing the symptoms Alzheimer’s disease. Machover and Fleming are both engaged in exploring the connections between music and health, and after listening to a recording of the Kronos Quartet’s premiere performance of Gammified, Fleming asked Machover if he’d be interested in creating a version with a vocal line for her. The new piece, for string quartet, voice and electronics, was commissioned for Fleming by Cal Performances as part of her “Music and the Mind,” series, ongoing creative collaborations with researchers, scholars, and scientists; the digital program also includes a discussion with UC Berkeley professor of neuroscience Ehud Isacoff.