The UNH Department of Music presents a guest recital by trombonist Abbie Conant and composer William Osborne in the Bratton Recital Hall, PCAC, Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 8 p.m.

Cybeline is a music theater work for performance artist, glove controller, trombone, video, and quadraphonic surround sound. Schubert Lieder, the Egyptian Goddess Maat, Native American poetry, dismemberment, trombone playing, a cyborg talk show host, a talking hand, sacred cartoons, a vengeful opera singer, a martyred math geek, Hildegard von Bingen, fighter jets, commercials for synthetic flesh, cyborgian attack dogs, personality-enhancement chips, Psalms, a country western song, Mother Nature, and a tribute to Joni Mitchell...all integrated into a 45 minute surround sound mini opera with computer-generated accompaniment, video and live electronics. And yes, this is classical music about a cyborg trying to prove she is human by being a talk show host.

“Music for the End of Time,” by William Osborne, for trombone and quadraphonic tape, is an apocalyptic work in six movements based on the Book of Revelation. The electronic music of the surround sound creates a sonic environment in which the trombone is the central figure. It explores all aspects of the trombone, ranging from expressions of “divine wrath,” to wild rhythmic unions with the Four Horsemen, to the gentlest, meditative lyricism.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 2-2404.