200 OK (2009)

Servers are the twenty-first century utility. Hidden in warehouses, underground, and other discreet locations around the world, countless computers hold the physical record of our data. The Internet behemoths—Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook—rely on these machines to power their information empires. The rest of us rely on these servers to preserve our collective digital memories. I began this piece specifically interested in how my computer talks to the body of computers storing what we call the Internet. I quickly learned there is a precise set of rules and procedures governing this type of user/server communication. These are called Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), otherwise known as the ‘http’ that precedes many web addresses. According to HTTP, whenever we open a web browser our computer communicates with a server through a series of simple messages. Upon receiving our request, the server acknowledges the query with the message ‘200 OK.’ The connection has been established and data will be transmitted.

Premiered December 11, 2009 by the Yale Philharmonia at Woolsey Hall, New Haven, CT.

Performance materials for both Full Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra versions of this piece are available for hire.

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August 4, 2010 Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA. Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

May 22, 2010 EMPAC, Troy, NY. Albany Symphony Orchestra, David Alan Miller (public reading)

December 11, 2009 Woolsey Hall, New Haven, CT. Yale Philharmonia, Farkhad Khudyev.