CHICAGO
Suzanne Ciani
An immersive night of sound + light honoring 40 years of Seven Waves
Friday, May 17, 2024
Fourth Presbyterian Church
7pm (doors) 8pm (performance)
with Jeremiah Chiu
All ages
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Join Reflections for an evening with legendary synth composer Suzanne Ciani. Presented live in quadraphonic sound, we’ll celebrate the 40th anniversary of her electro-romantic breakthrough album Seven Waves, a masterpiece of new age sensuality.
Suzanne will explore themes and sequences from the album’s original stems while improvising live on the Buchla 200e modular synth. Jeremiah Chiu opens with an ambient set, all paired with an immersive light experience bathing the walls of this historic cathedral 🌊
The Album
Ethereal, meditative, and deeply romantic, Seven Waves was first released in the US in 1984 through Atlantic Records.
It breathes. It sings. It flows like water. Impeccably engineered and produced by Suzanne, the album infuses melodic – even pop! – sensibilities into the mix. And as one of the first recordings to prominently feature the (then-new) Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, Seven Waves occupies a space with Yellow Magic Orchestra’s “1000 Knives” and Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.” It reveals technology’s emotional potential, infused with the divine feminine, an ambient odyssey that flows into our collective future.
Suzanne Ciani
A five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist, Suzanne has released over 20 solo albums including The Velocity of Love, Flowers of Evil, and her landmark LIVE Quadraphonic, which restarted her Buchla modular performances.
In the 1980s, her commercial production company, Ciani-Musica, Inc., was the leader in the field of sound design and TV spot scoring. She provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world. A Life in Waves, a documentary about Ciani’s life and work, debuted at SXSW in 2017.
Ciani is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a Masters in Music Composition from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jeremiah Chiu
Los Angeles-based Jeremiah Chiu is a multimedia artist, synthesist, and composer. He infuses his electronic music compositions with organic textures and movement through live-processed performances, field recordings, and chance programming operations.
In early 2022 Chiu released a critically-acclaimed duo album with Marta Sofia Honer on International Anthem, Recordings from the Åland Islands, which combined field recordings with improvisations on synthesizer and viola. Most recently, he has toured with Sam Prekop & John McEntire, and was the opener for M83 on their U.S. Fantasy Tour.
Fourth Presbyterian Church
Fourth Church has a long history in the Chicago community. The congregation began in 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire, and the building opened in 1914. The architect was Ralph Adams Cram, America’s leading gothic revival architect, best known for his work on the world’s largest gothic cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The building is an ADA accessible space.
126 E Chestnut St, Chicago, IL 60611
© Reflections 2024. In time, out of time ☀︎