Passing of Dr. Lydia Ayers

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Kevin Austin

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Jan 22, 2022, 8:21:06 PM1/22/22
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From: Anna Rubin <air...@umbc.edu>
Subject: Passing of Dr. Lydia Ayers
Date: 2022 January 22 at 17:43:51 GMT-5
To: SEAMUS-list <seamu...@googlegroups.com>

Friends,
Composer Dr. Lydia Ayers (1952-2022) passed away recently in her home in Hong Kong, where she and her husband, Dr. Andrew Horner, had lived since the early 90s. She was a prolific composer who also mastered flutes from a variety of cultural traditions. She worked with extended vocal and woodwind techniques, including quarter tones, multiphonics and other unusual flute timbres. She created native American, Australian, Chinese and Indonesian computer music designs and extensively researched and composed with microtonal tuning systems, especially unlimited just intonation. She had a tubular percussion instrument, the Woodstock Gamelan, built to her specifications using a 75-tone Indian/Partch scale. She modeled gamelan instruments using Csound. Among their several research collaborations, Lydia and Andrew co-authored the book Cooking with Csound: Woodwind and Brass Recipes.

 

Among her many acoustic pieces are over thirty solo and ensemble works for flutes.  Her computer music output was substantial. Often she was inspired by nature as in her haunting work, Bioluminesence which is included in her CD, Virtual Gamelan – Pieces in Just Intonation. Allen Kozin,  reviewing her flute and electronics piece The Pearls in the NY Times, wrote:
            a work about Japanese pearl fishers who dive without oxygen or masks and brave shark attacks and the bends. As scenarios for electronic pieces go, that has plenty to offer, and Ms. Ayers responds with distorted voices, instruments and sea birds, filtered to sound as if they were being heard underwater. The score pivots between energetic cacophony and an attractive otherworldliness.
 
Her love of theatre came out in her intense mezzo solo called Another Victim Found in Rubble (1986), portraying a woman descending into madness. She developed her love of puppet theatre from her father and was later influenced by Asian traditions. In Hong Kong, Lydia formed a puppet group called Foggy Sound Garden and created and performed many original shows around her music, as well as a production to Stravinsky’s Petrushka with live music

 

I met Lydia while we were both studying at Cal Arts in the 70s. Even in the experimental milieu of CalArts, Lydia stood out as an original and there began to develop her love of microtonality. From there she was led to study and publish on Harry Partch’s work in depth as well as writing for her own pleasure, a summary of scales found in Arab music. She had a prodigious power of concentration and could work on her music for hours on end, all the while managing courses and a full-time job. Lydia moved to New York City in the 1980s and then decided to get her doctorate at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. There she met Andrew and  they moved to Hong Kong where Andrew teaches at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Lydia also taught various courses at HKUST, including a course on musical instrument building using recycled materials and beach rubbish. Andrew and Lydia co-directed the International Computer Music Conference in Hong Kong in 1996, a mammoth undertaking of concerts, papers and HK cruises.

 

Her warm and creative persona touched many people with the power of her spirituality in her compositions, puppet productions, and  creativity. She also had a deep love for nature, vegetarian cooking, family and friends, travel and her beloved cats. Lydia left a wonderful legacy of adventurous music and friendship and will be dearly missed.

Anna Rubin (She/Her)

Dean Rosenthal

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Jan 22, 2022, 10:13:12 PM1/22/22
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Hi Anna,

I was unaware of Lydia Ayers and her contributions, but I am glad, especially in the context of the book of oral histories being written for OUP wrt American experimental music, to have known. 

I’ll do some Googling, but would be happy to find out more. And surely there is a website. In any case, there is a loss here, condolences to you.  

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elsa justel

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Jan 23, 2022, 9:41:08 AM1/23/22
to CEC, Anna Rubin
I feel very sad about that news. I met Lydia at the ICMC in Hong Kong and from there we maintained a cordial correspondence. She was a nice and deep thinking person. I appreciate her important contribution to electroacoustic music. She is a great loss to the music community.


Dr Elsa Justel



Ivan Elezovic

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Jan 23, 2022, 9:52:02 AM1/23/22
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Dear Anna,


Condolences to you. I have to admit that I do not know much about Lydia but I would be happy to get and find some more infos about her and her music. 

Thank you for turning our attention to her.

Ivan

On Jan 23, 2022, at 04:13, Dean Rosenthal <deanro...@gmail.com> wrote:



Judy Klein

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Jan 23, 2022, 10:05:40 AM1/23/22
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Anna, thank you so much for writing this beautiful appreciation of Lydia.  I am very saddened by the news of her passing.   

I remember how much I admired Lydia for the extraordinary diligence with which she tackled the Csound language while at the Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music, and how skillfully she used the computer to pursue her compositional foci.   

As you wrote, Lydia was a multi-faceted and prolific artist and scholar.  In addition to her contributions to the ICMA, she has left the world with many gifts of music and writings.

Judy Klein


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