MathLoops by Nathanael Kumar (2024)
0:00 1. MathLoops
2:45 2. prime(n)
March 5, 2024
Hatch Recital Hall, at the Eastman School of Music

Anna Bjerken, soprano @annabjerken3546
Luisa Iero, mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Ellwanger, tenor
Ashton Rapp, baritone

The first two movements of my vocal quartet “MathLoops”, premiered here at Hatch Hall by four wonderful friends of mine. A huge thanks to Anna, Luisa, Jonathan, and Ashton for putting in so much time and effort to make this piece sound amazing, and to Nate Clarke for managing the audio/video.
Inspired by Caroline Shaw’s “Partita for 8 Voices”, “MathLoops” intertwines sung and spoken text to reflect the dichotomy between human and computer language. The lyrics are written entirely in Java, with code taken from one of the composer’s computer-science homework submissions.
A special thanks to Dr. David Liptak and Dr. Adam Purtee for making this piece possible.