Christopher Rountree Designs a Musical Framework for Electro-Chamber Players

Soundcheck | Aug 15, 2024

Christopher Rountree is probably best known as the conductor of the LA-based new music ensemble known as Wild Up. Over the last 14 years he and that band have played with Bjork, done live film scores to movie screenings, and embarked on a multiyear recording project of the long forgotten and now rediscovered music of Julius Eastman. But Christopher Rountree is also a composer, and his latest work is called 3 BPM. It seems like it might be his reply to the rise of AI in music, because he describes the piece as “a musical framework for being together.” In an open score that could be part map, and part game, the ensemble performs the entirety of 3 BPM in-studio. 

Watch "3BPM":

The ensemble for this New York in-studio includes: 

Christopher Rountree, voice / synth
Catherine Brookman, voice / synth  
Nadia Sirota, viola  
Adam Tendler, piano
Phong Tran, electronics
Taylor Levine, electric guitar
Rachel Beetz, flute

Be alert for scams. WNYC never asks for nor accepts money for coverage or interviews. Anyone making such a request does not represent WNYC.

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

Top Stories

Darializa Avila-Chevalier on Mamdani, ICE and the NYPD

Who’s Running This Place |

Has MAGA Lost Faith in Donald Trump? Plus, Molly Fischer on Waymo

Rich Baris, a pollster supportive of MAGA, explains how the President lost control of his movement. And Fischer, a New Yorker staff writer, on the present and future of driverless cars.
The New Yorker Radio Hour |

Watch: Test your news knowledge with Brian Lehrer

Brian Lehrer leads special guests in a multi-round quiz of news oddities.
Radiolab |

A Nobel Peace Prize Winner on the State of Press Freedom and Democracy

The Brian Lehrer Show |
YOU ARE ONLINE