Daniel Bernard Roumain, known in the music world as DBR, says the violin has saved his life. Rather fittingly, he uses his life saver to reach out to others and dive into the deepest of topics in his new piece, "One Loss Plus."
"For anyone, it's nice to have an antidote, not only in a time of war, but when you are sad and feel alone," Roumain said. "Music can serve as a wonderful antidote to a very harsh and cruel world."
Roumain, 36, of Margate, Fla., started playing the violin when he was 5 years old. By age 10, he was composing and playing in rock and jazz bands; by 15 he had "plugged in," or attached his violin to amps; and now he has released an album (etudes4violin&electronix) and performed with various orchestras and ensembles.
The violin "makes me feel alive," he said. "It's the sound of me being alive. It's more of my own voice than my own voice."
To conclude his four-month-plus residency at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the Haitian-American artist/composer performs "One Loss Plus" at 8 tonight at the Ina and Jack Kay Theatre.
Just recently, he performed with the Maryland Youth Orchestra Chamber Ensemble and as a soloist at the Mansion at Strathmore. His solo performance was made up of songs from his album, which fuses hip-hop with classical and electronic music.
"One Loss Plus" is an 80-minute multimedia concert that will encompass electronic and acoustic violin, piano, electronics and video. In displaying videos of interviews with various people set to music, one simple question is answered, DBR said: "What is gained when someone or something is lost?"
Also featured will be Wynne Bennett on piano, Janet Wong on video and Matthew Richards on lighting.
The show, he said, explores feelings of loss, isolation, mourning, resolve and optimism. "One Loss Plus" is a "purely instrumental, very contemporary work and commentary."
Incorporating posts from such Web sites as YouTube and MySpace, two screens will show videos that together form both natural and contrived conversations and narrations among people.
"I hadn't really experienced great loss," DBR said. "It was my way of preparing myself. This piece was a way to come to terms with death and my own mortality."
Commissioned by the Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, DBR's eclectic score consists of folk music, Haitian music, electronics, piano and, of course, the "plugged-in" violin.
In his third visit to the University of Maryland, Roumain is teaching as well as performing.
"As a composer, I feel I'm responsible for creating new music and audiences," he said.
"It's all one thing," DBR said. "Even as I'm composing, I'm performing. Specifically, the sciences have kind of made things worse. You used to have total musicians, now you have only the flute."
Despite his disdain for much of what the music industry is doing today, he said that it is in "a very healthy state of flux." As large record companies suffer, he said, more opportunities are given to more musicians.
"Take a chance," Roumain said. "Don't rely on MTV and the mass media to dictate your taste. Expand your knowledge of what composers are doing in 2008 instead of being part of an anonymous, critical society."
Beyond just expanding one's horizons, DBR encourages people to simply experience live music. "It's more than a concert, it's communion," he said. "There's nothing better than sitting next to someone and listening to music. It's very precious."
"One Loss Plus" comes to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center's Ina and Jack Kay Theatre at 8 p.m. today. The center is near Route 193 and Stadium Drive, on the University of Maryland, College Park campus. Tickets are $35; $7 for full-time students. Call 301-405-ARTS or go to claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.
