Steve Horelick

Composer Steve Horelick will reflect on his experience working with the Buchla 100 at the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied and performed under Michael Czajkowski, share how those early patching concepts continue to influence his work today, and present a live performance inspired by those ideas. The program also features The MEMS Project, who will present their restoration of the legendary Buchla 100 at the Library of Congress—the instrument used by Morton Subotnick to create Silver Apples of the Moon—along with insights into its history, evolving configuration, and their work inside the Library’s vaults. The evening concludes with a demonstration on either the original instrument (pending availability) or The MEMS Project’s highly accurate Buchla 100 reproduction.

Step inside the sound. Steve Horelick—creator of the iconic Reading Rainbow theme—and the pioneering Electronic Art Ensemble unleash a fully immersive, surround-sound performance that transforms the room itself into a living instrument. Drawing on decades of boundary-pushing electronic music, EAE uses advanced convolution techniques to conjure the acoustics of cathedrals, ancient spaces, and imagined environments—placing you inside the music, not in front of it. The result is a visceral, spatial experience where sound moves, surrounds, and surprises at every turn—a bold, electrifying journey perfectly timed for the spirit of Halloween.

https://electronicartensemble.com/video

2nd annual synth festival. More to come!

Composer Steve Horelick presents an engaging evening of conversation and live performance exploring the creation of the iconic Reading Rainbow theme, “Butterfly in the Sky.” Focusing on the theme’s origins and evolution, Steve shares how Buchla instruments shaped its sound and takes the audience inside his compositional process—from early electronic sketches to a lasting cultural touchstone. The evening concludes with a quadraphonic, live improvised performance on his Buchla Easel and 200e Skylab systems, preceded by a brief look at his setup and how he blends classic modular synthesis with modern digital tools.