Batture Contemporary

In my experience, people don’t typically write for beatbox/vocal percussion outside of Aacappella music, and even then, a lot of the time it is not notated well if at all. This piece was written for me to have a chance to beatbox on stages that don’t typically see that form of music, as well as allow me to start finding better ways to write music for the instrument. This piece is mostly improvisation (with rules) with the beginning and end being strictly notated.

Andrew Bass is a 28 year Composer/Songwriter/Musician who is currently working towards his M.M. in Music Composition at LSU. He is currently studying under Dr. Brian Nabors.

Sonic Meditation is an exploration of decay, transformation, and space. Built from recorded sounds found throughout New Orleans, the piece unfolds without traditional sections, evolving through shifting textures and timbral nuance. Each sound event is both fleeting and essential, inviting the listener into a meditative sound world where emotional weight lies not in melody or harmony, but in the fragile resonance of texture and pacing.

Born in New Orleans and raised in Atlanta, Malcolm Parson is a Grammy-nominated cellist, composer, and conductor known for his emotionally rich sound and genre-defying approach. His music has been featured in award-winning films and series such as Love Lizzo, Little Woods, and The Secrets of Hillsong, and performed by ensembles including the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. As a sought-after performer, he has collaborated with artists like Terence Blanchard, Arooj Aftab, and Béla Fleck, and appeared on major platforms including the MTV VMAs and The Tonight Show. In 2024, he was named a Conductor Fellow for the Carlos Miguel Prieto Conducting Fellowship, culminating in a performance with the Orchestra of the Americas alongside Yo-Yo Ma. A former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Turtle Island String Quartet, Parson continues to push the boundaries of sound through storytelling, experimentation, and cultural resonance.

A collection of electronic etudes written about life events.

After graduating from Columbia College, Will Kiel received a scholarship to attend the School of Music at San Francisco State University, where he completed a Bachelor’s degree in classical guitar performance. He later studied at Tulane University in New Orleans, focusing on composition and performance. Now based in New Orleans, Will continues to develop his craft while immersing himself in the city’s vibrant musical culture.

Innocent Machine is a work with a mechanically constant drive governed by an innocently playful theme. Dancing frantically throughout, this quirky theme is interwoven throughout the entire piece as an earworm that the work can’t quite shake. Appearing as fragmentations, transpositions, augmentations and more, this dance theme evolves dramatically but never beyond recognition, bending but not breaking as it dominates the trajectory of the piece. As a parallel, most machines are designed to help or entertain, while others are inherently harmful to others. Regardless of their intended uses, these lifeless objects retain their innocence through their lack of motivation citing the tired notion that “a calculator is only as smart as its user.” Nevertheless, all machines work tirelessly, while maintaining their blind potential for good, evil, or something in between.

Innocent Machine was composed for the Atlanta Chamber Players and the 2018 Rapido! Composition Contest.

Ben Robichaux (b.1991) is a dedicated composer who aims to write accessible music that musicians and non-musicians alike can enjoy. His chamber works have been featured at the International Saxophone Symposium, the National Gallery of Art, the Rapido! Composition Competition (2-time national finalist), the Alba International Music Festival, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Society of Composers, Incorporated Student National Conference, the SEAMUS National Conference, the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, the Electrobrass II Conference, the Society of Composers, Incorporated Region IV Conference and the NACUSA/SCI Snapshot Conference among others.

He received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition and a Master’s of Music in Composition from the University of Georgia where he studied with Natalie Williams, Leonard V. Ball, Peter Van Zandt Lane, Adrian Childs, and Emily Koh. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumental Music Education from Nicholls State University. Additionally, he has been involved in masterclasses and private lessons with Frank Ticheli, Mark Camphouse, Brian Balmages, Jesse Jones, Xi Wang, Melinda Wagner, Paul Koonce, Ben Hjertmann, David Ludwig, Pierre Jalbert, Ken Ueno, Nils Vigeland, Donald Crockett, George Tsontakis, Hannah Lash, Robert Cuckson, Jennifer Jolley, Joseph Dangerfield, Elliott McKinley, Luke Dahn, Robert Paterson and Mari Kimura.

He is published by Murphy Music Press, LLC and Noteworthy Sheet Music, LLC and is affiliated with BMI. He is currently the Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Nicholls State University.

The Garden in Motion captures the dynamic and ever-changing natural world as rendered in four of monet’s more atmospheric and kinetic paintings. Beginning with Women in the Garden, the music explores shifting patterns of light and shadow as figures move beneath trees in soft, dappled sunlight. Rhythmic gestures suggest the rustling of fabric and foliage, with harmonies that blur like light through leaves. This is followed by The Luncheon (Monet’s Garden at Argenteuil), where the music conjures a quiet afternoon gathering in a flower-filled garden. Textures interweave like conversations, suggesting both social warmth and contemplative stillness. The suite then journeys to La Grenouillère, a lively riverside setting where water, people, and reflections intertwine. The ensemble mimics ripples, laughter, and passing boats, blending joy with a subtle sense of transience. The final movement, Wind Effect, Series of the Poplars, expands the scope of motion with sweeping phrases and suspended harmonies that mirror tall trees swaying in the breeze. The music breathes with natural momentum, culminating in a shimmering release that leaves only the impression of movement behind. This part transforms the garden into a space of motion and memoryfluid, alive, and subject to the winds of time.

My inspiration for The Sonic Gallery began with a deep and lasting admiration for the work of Claude Monet, a love that first took root during my studies and has only grown stronger with time. In recent years, I’ve made it a personal tradition to seek out Monet’s paintings wherever I travel, often slipping away to local museums in search of his work. Most recently, a trip to europe brought me to the British national gallery, the tate modern where I encountered several of Monet’s large-scale canvases in person. Standing before them, I found myself utterly transfixed drawn into their atmosphere, texture, and color in a way that felt almost musical. It was there, in the quiet hush of the gallery, that I recall being truly moved by a painting for the first time. This collection of 4 movements is a reflection of those encounters each one chosen not only for its visual beauty but also for the emotional resonance it stirred within me.

Dr. Jeremi W. Edwards, a Louisiana native, is renowned for his extensive expertise in music education and composition. He has a bachelor’s degree in music education from McNeese State University, followed by a Master of Music in Theory and Composition at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette under the mentorship of Dr. Quincy Hilliard. Continuing his pursuit of excellence, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Composition from Louisiana State University, guided by Dr. Mara Gibson. Presently, Dr. Jeremi W. Edwards holds the position of Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at McNeese State University,

Beyond his academic and compositional achievements, Dr. Edwards actively contributes to his community and music education. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Lake Charles Community Band, the New Music on the Bayou Summer Festival in Monroe, LA, and the Cultural Noir Performing Arts Theater Company in San Diego, CA. Additionally, he plays an active role in the Louisiana Music Educators Association (LMEA) and the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) and was recently appointed to the Board of the MCI, Millennium, Composers Initiative as the New Artistic Director.

Interrupted in the Distant Past is my version of Bach borrowing. What do I mean by this? The composition takes components from a movement for flute and cello from my DMA document (2009) and melds it with a recent short solo cello piece (2021). This idea of compositional borrowing from oneself was a necessary job requirement for Bach!

The conceptions of the two works are vastly different. The 2009 composition was created with small pitch sets as foundational elements. In addition to this, there is an interplay of similar timbral gestures between flute and cello. The 2021 composition is based on a 12-tone row from Luigi Nono’s “Il Canto Sospeso.”

What I found intriguing was how easily these two separate works worked together. While I did have to add things to the music, I found that little to nothing had to be removed. The title pays homage to the two works in that the new elements tend to interrupt or disturb the flow of the musical elements composed in the distant past (2009).

Greg Robin is a composer and guitarist from Louisiana. Gregory’s music explores timbre, rhythmic partitioning of motivic elements, and the juxtaposition of dynamic contrast and musical interruption. Through a tightly controlled yet intuitive process, motivic elements of pitch, rhythm, and timbre meld together to form a cohesive and organic whole.

Variations for Guitar is a three-movement work that explores the expanded sonic and expressive possibilities of the guitar through extended techniques—especially the interplay between natural harmonics and fretted notes. The piece draws particular influence from pioneering English improvising guitarist Derek Bailey, whose innovative use of harmonics and unconventional techniques inspired much of the work’s approach to texture and articulation. Departing from traditional harmony and meter, the piece embraces abstraction, wide registral shifts, and speech-like rhythmic phrasing. With minimal repetition, and an unfolding improvisatory verve,Variations for Guitar is both a study in timbral nuance and a push into new technical and expressive terrain within the solo guitar repertoire.

New Orleans based improviser/guitarist/composer Chris Alford utilizes a spherical approach in his artistry. In one hemisphere is the deep tradition of jazz and blues languages of the past and in the other is avant-garde, unconventional, creative syntax. Warping the old with the new, Alford keeps his feet rooted in the ground all the while looking beyond the horizon. He is just as likely to galvanize an audience with peculiar, angular, sharp flourishes as he is to allure with luscious, atmospheric harmony and melodies. An openness to sound and collaboration allows Alford to shape and guide the music in an organic flow.

Ideas stifled; melodic lines interrupted; sounds chopped off; communication achieved, then ignored… a disappointed homage to the chaotic, frenetic, and nonsensical world that we have all helped bring to life.

A native of Texas, Mel Mobley currently resides in Monroe, Louisiana. As composer, conductor, performer, and advocate of new music, he has been part of numerous premieres and festivals around the country. He is a founder and coordinator of the New Music on the Bayou Festival that connects composers from around the world with the communities of north Louisiana. While frequently performing with the Monroe, Shreveport, South Arkansas, and Rapides Symphonies, Mel is also heavily involved in contemporary chamber music including work with the NMB Percussion Group, and the M2 performance art duo. His current composition work focuses on the blending of speech and instrumental sound and the use of “collage poetry” developed from the mesostic procedures of John Cage.

Dr. Mobley teaches at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and at several camps throughout Haiti in the summers. A member of ASCAP, National Association of Composers USA, the Southeastern Composers League, and the Percussive Arts Society, his music can be found on the Ansonica, Navona, and Revello labels. More information can be found at melmobley.com

• Executive Director – Mendel Lee
• Executive Team – Kari Besharse (founder), Philip Schuessler (co-founder), Stephen Montalvo
• Artistic Directors
  • Batture Contemporary – Mendel Lee
  • Versipel Collective – Kari Besharse, Philip Schuessler
  • nF Residency Series – Mendel Lee (founder, interim), Maxwell Dulaney, Sixto Franco
• Production Director – Rick Snow
• Communications/Marketing – Kevin Mah, Drew Farrar
• Board of Directors – Kari Besharse (president), Philip Schuessler (vice-president), Megan Ihnen (secretary), Jeff Albert, Rick Snow

Batture Contemporary was created and is run by Versipel New Music. The festival is supported in part by:

• a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, as administered by Arts New Orleans. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment of the Arts.
• a grant from the New Orleans Theatre Association
• Acadiana Instrument Repair

Batture Contemporary and Versipel New Music would like to give our heartfelt thanks to the following outside people who have offered their time and resources to make this festival possible: