CAA Release: George E. Lewis 'Voyager'

Released in August 2019, this is the first in a series of facsimile releases from ESS’s Creative Audio Archive. The George E. Lewis ‘Voyager’ tape is a facsimile of the original tape, item # 11_FE_ESS, with handwritten label J-card and single sided label reading "George Lewis | Voyager, 5/10/89" from the ESS Collection of the Creative Audio Archive. It features a 27-minute performance of George E. Lewis and his pioneering interactive computer music program, Voyager.

The recording preceded an ESS workshop on Interactive Computer Music Programming later that year at Randolph Street Gallery (flyer below), where Lewis presented his pioneering interactive computer music program that responds to audio and midi inputs to create live improvisations between a human performer and a computer with synthesizer modules.

Unfortunately this tape’s provenance seems still lost in the ether, as neither George nor ESS founder Lou Mallozzi have any immediate recollections of the recording, nor does the Internet seem to assuage our lack of details. Though not directly connected, the Archive also includes this interview between George and Curtis Roads from Composers and the Computer, which offers some further context to George’s work around this time. Click here for that pdf.

Click here to read the related CAA Archive Dive.

How do you get a facsimile tape? Support more programming and releases like this by joining ESS as a member at the $17/month or $125/year level OR give an equivalent donation and we'll send you one of these very special artifacts while supplies last.