Renowned cellist and composer Laura Cetilia will come to Albany to perform original works inspired by Albany Museum of Art spaces. She will be in concert at the Belk building, the AMA’s future downtown home at 140 W. Broad Ave.

The concert, which begins at 2:30 pm, is free and open to the public. So that adequate seating may be provided, the AMA asks those who want to attend to register. An online registration link may be found at www.albanymuseum.com/laura-cetilia, or you may call the AMA at 229.439.8400.

“I am so looking forward to sharing with the Albany community a unique and immersive listening experience that I have composed specifically for the acoustic properties of the Belk building,” Cetilia said. “Along with live cello and voice, the music will consist of a diffusion of sound through an array of small wireless speakers placed throughout the cavernous space of the former department store. Despite the raw and unfinished surroundings, my hope is that listeners will be transported to a sound world that conveys an ethereal yet intimate atmosphere.”

“We are excited to bring the art of music once again to the AMA,” Executive Director Andrew J. Wulf, Ph.D., said. “Laura Cetilia is a visionary cellist and composer and this event is symbolic of the AMA’s intention to break down the artificial boundaries between the arts. Ms. Cetilia’s exploration of sound in the downtown Belk building will be a revelatory event.”

This is the first of two events that the Albany Museum of Art will conduct at its future downtown home in the space of a month. The Belk building also will be the location for the AMA’s signature fundraising event, Art Ball, on Saturday, Feb 25. This year’s theme is Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler, and tickets for that event are on sale now. A secure link for online ticket purchases may be found at
www.albanymuseum.com/art-ball-2023.

Cetilia’s work encourages listeners to make connections, to be present in the moment, and to make patient explorations within themselves and the music. As a daughter of mixed heritage, Mexican-American cellist Cetilia is at home with in-betweenness, straddling the worlds of performer/composer, acoustic/electronic, and traditional/experimental sound practices. Her music has been described as “unorthodox loveliness” (Boston Globe) and hailed as “alternately penetrating and atmospheric” (Sequenza 21). She has created site-specific sound installations for the Bennington Museum and Ben Ari Museum for Contemporary Art.

The Grove Dictionary of American Music describes her electroacoustic duo Mem1 as a “complex cybernetic entity” that “understands its music as a feedback loop between the past and present.” In the performer/composer collective Ordinary Affects, she has collaborated with, commissioned, and premiered works by composers such as Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff, Michael Pisaro, Jürg Frey, Eva-Maria Houben, and Magnus Granberg.