In this video, A4 interviews composer Milan Guštar about his generative composition Hard Rain. 

Milan Guštar is an organist, composer, designer and programmer of electronic and electroacoustic equipment. He is engaged in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of science, technology and art, especially mathematical principles in music, tonal systems theory, electronics, computer science, applied mathematics, modeling and simulation. He also uses mathematical principles, microtonality, algorithmic procedures and sonification in the creation of his musical compositions and sound and multimedia installations.

Milan Guštar’s Hard Rain is a generative opera for reciters, electronics and small orchestra. Duration: 4 hours and 20 minutes. Starring Ensemble Spectrum, direction and set design Veronika Trokšiarová, art director and production Matej Sloboda.

The composition is based on texts by the American writer and explorer Charles Fort, who devoted his life to collecting and processing information about unusual happenings that take place around us and for which no rational explanation can be found. The original version from 2022 was created for reciters and a group of live coders, who are in real time creating programs which generate the musical part according to the instructions of a conductor. As a sound engineer, the composer simultaneously controls the mixing console and completes the final multi-channel surround sound. The visual component consists of the actions of the musicians and reciters on stage, accompanied by a synchronized video projection.

The musical composition was edited into a pre-generated four-channel electro-acoustic soundtrack, which is the base for the guided improvisation for a group of string, wind and percussion instruments.

The video is produced by A4 as a part of New Perspectives for Action. A project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union and supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council and Bratislava City Foundation.

Video: Daniel Kazankov & Patricia Batki
Authors concept: Peter Dolník