Bowerbird is pleased to present pianist Amy Williams and a performance of David Tudor’s Forest Speech led by Phil Edelstein with additional performers to be announced.

This concert celebrates David Tudor’s dual legacy as both a revolutionary pianist and electronic music pioneer. The first half features Amy Williams performing works by Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Earle Brown that were written for and premiered by Tudor in the 1950s and 1960s. As one of the most sought after interpreters of piano music in his generation, Tudor’s performances transformed indeterminate scores into vivid sonic experiences, establishing new possibilities for what piano performance could be. Williams, a composer and pianist known for her deep engagement with contemporary repertoire and her acclaimed recordings of Morton Feldman and other experimental composers, brings her own interpretive insight to these historically significant works.

The second half presents Forest Speech (1978/79), a rarely performed work from Tudor’s Rainforest family that uses amplified objects as “instrumental loudspeakers.” Developed in 1976 and expanded as a group version in 1978, Forest Speech transforms sound into vocal-like illusions through formant resonances and vocoder-like circuit networks. This performance version utilizes everyday objects fitted with sonic transducers—metal barrels, plastic tubing, found materials—that resonate and shape electronic sound, creating a dense acoustic environment where physical materials become active participants in the composition.

This event is part of A VIEW FROM INSIDE: DAVID TUDOR AT 100, an exhibition at Drexel’s Pearlstein Gallery from January 15 to March 21, 2026.

Major support for A View from Inside has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.