On Friday, November 7th, flutist Roberta Michel will perform at Swarthmore as part of the Fridays at Six series. During her concert, she will combine flute and electronics, continuing a history of collaboration with Swarthmore Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and event organizer Quinn Collins. 

Collins worked with Michel in her past quartet Cadillac Moon Ensemble, and on the piece “Like dreamers do,” which she will perform during her upcoming Swarthmore visit. Michel is a member of Da Capo Chamber Players, PinkNoise, and Duo RoMi. She is the co-director of Wavefield Ensemble, and an assistant teaching professor of flute at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Her solo album Hush “digs deep into the possibilities of flute,” according to music critic Peter Margasak.

Professor Collins believes Michel’s performance may broaden the horizons of current Swarthmore musicians, especially the flutists. “I’m looking forward to them hearing her, because she is a great player and because she will do things they might not even realize are possible on [the flute],” he said.

Collins explained that Michel is a “champion of living composers [who] has devoted herself to a certain niche, and through this has developed a unique artistic personality.” He said Michel possesses “instincts about her programming choices because they span a wide range of composers, promoting a diversity of musical styles and cultural identities.” 

At Swarthmore, Michel will perform “Like dreamers do” by Quinn Collins, and “Quintet” by Mert Moralı, among others. She will be accompanied by prerecorded tracks, a format Collins describes as “high-brow karaoke.” The track for “Quintet” employs quadraphonic sound. Most modern recorded music exists in stereo sound, meaning the music is meant to be played on two separate speakers. Each speaker plays a unique mix of the music; the mixes combine in the space the track is played in. Quadraphonic sound uses four separate speakers. Two will be positioned in front of the audience, while two are positioned behind, creating a special surround sound effect.  

Collins describes “Like dreamers do” – written for Michel in 2014 – as a fantasy on Roy Orbison full of references to his work. Orbison was a popular singer and songwriter during the 1960s to 1980s, known for songs like “Oh, Pretty Woman.” The piece includes long tones recorded from Michel’s flute, and was built using the chord progression from Orbison’s song “Crying,” adjusted in key for the flute’s range. Along with the chord inspiration, the title comes from Orbison’s song “In Dreams,” and the track conceals a sample of Orbison’s voice from his song “Only the Lonely.” 

“The tape is Orbison under a microscope: stretched, melted, and unsanded,” reads the program note. “The flute player weaves in and out of the chord-bed like a lorikeet in electrical camouflage plotting subterfuge.”

In "Like dreamers do," recordings were run through 1970s sound equipment – including an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man analog delay and a Fisher Space Expander Spring Reverb – to generate sound layering. 

“The progression moves at a glacial pace initially, getting gradually faster in the middle (but always quite slow!), and then slowing down again,” Collins said. “This progression was realized using flute samples, tuned to just intonation using software.”

Collins’ piece fits into a larger theme for the program of utilizing lo-fi, or unpolished technology, including a small bluetooth speaker and a cassette player. Throughout her concert, accompanied by electronics, Michel will explore and shift how the flute can be used. 

Roberta Michel will perform at Swarthmore on November 7th at 6 p.m. in the Lang Music Concert Hall. The concert is free and open to the public, and no reservations are required.