CONDUIT (2014)
FOR FLUTE, CLARINET, VIOLIN, CELLO, PERCUSSION, AND PIANO
15 minutes
Program Notes
Composed for Hand Eye, Sleeping Giant’s evening length collaboration with eighth blackbird, Conduit takes its cue from an interactive sculpture by digital artists Zigelbaum and Coelho. In their 640 by 480 the human body merges with computational process, facilitating simple copy/paste operations between sculptural elements. Set in three movements— Touch, Pulse, Send—Conduit evokes this man/machine synthesis. As bright waves of color explode from repeated sonic bursts, Touch compulsively repeats the gesture so fundamental to how we interact with our devices. In Pulse long lines in the flute and cello move through a cloud of asynchronous repeated notes, evoking that instantaneous moment when data passes from finger to screen. Finally, Send completes the transfer. Action follows as the music energizes and accelerates, moving briskly to a wild conclusion.
Conduit was commissioned by the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation for the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and by Carnegie Hall, with visual arts production elements made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Texas Performing Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. It was premiered June 25, 2015 by Eighth Blackbird at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Seligman Performing Arts Center, Bloomfield Hills, MI.
Purchase
For Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Percussion
duration ~15 minutes
three movements
For Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Percussion
duration ~15 minutes
three movements
“Been a stressful year? This music will help. With a pulse about the same as your heartbeat, Robert Honstein’s mesmerizing piece has the power to soothe.” - Top 100 Songs of 2016, Tom Huizenga, NPR
“Mr. Honstein’s ‘Conduit’ evokes a man-machine synthesis, with waves of colorful sounds and breathless eruptions.” - Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
Recent Performances
February 28, 2026 Conduit University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Mizzou New Music Ensemble.
January 14, 2026 Conduit, Royal Academy of Music, London, UK. Peter Hughes and fellow students.
December 7, 2025 Conduit, Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL. University of Chicago New Music Ensemble
March 27-30, 2025 Skyward (feat. Conduit II. Pulse) Ballet, Orlando, FL. Orlando Ballet (5 performances).
November 19, 2022 Temecula Theater, Temecula, CA. Backhausdance.
November 4-5, 2022 Skyward (feat. Conduit II. Pulse) Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Alberta Ballet.
October 27-29, 2022 Skyward (feat. Conduit II. Pulse) Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary Alberta, Canada. Alberta Ballet.
March 9-13, 2022 Skyward (feat. Conduit II. Pulse) Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada. The National Ballet of Canada, Alyssa Pires.
April 1, 2021 Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN. Catchfire Collective.
December 12, 2020 Greensboro, NC. Catchfire Collective.