Part of the Pure Lucia project, “Lunch with Lucia” is a web series of lunchtime conversations exploring the music and legacy of composer Lucia Dlugoszewski. Hosted by curator Dustin Hurt, each live Zoom session features a guest artist or scholar delving into a different facet of Dlugoszewski’s work—from her groundbreaking timbre piano technique and invented percussion instruments to her radical approach to composition for brass, strings, and dance. These informal, accessible discussions offer a unique chance to rediscover one of the most visionary—and underrecognized—figures in 20th-century experimental music.
During this program, percussionist Dustin Donahue joins Dustin Hurt to explore one of the most misunderstood but fascinating aspects of Dlugoszewski’s legacy: her “invention of over 100 percussion instruments”. While that phrase is often repeated, the truth is both more nuanced and more compelling. Beginning in the early 1950s, Dlugoszewski became interested in composing with nontraditional sound sources—starting with everyday materials like rice, water, and glass. By the end of the decade, she was designing entirely new families of percussion instruments—including ladder harps, square drums, unsheltered rattles, and tangent rattles. Perhaps eer most significant innovation was assembling these handmade objects into large “choirs” of instruments with subtle variations in tuning, material, and resonance—what she called her “orchestra of invented instruments.”
Some of Dlugoszewski’s most important works for solo percussion were composed for choreographies by Erick Hawkins—particularly 8 Clear Places and Geography of Noon. These pieces are currently lost, but her performance practice survives in earlier percussion solos and chamber works that are featured in the Pure Lucia concerts. These include Song for the Poetry of Everyday Sounds (1952) and Separated Music (1958), as well as ensemble works like Lords of Persia and Black Lake, all of which integrate her original instruments and reflect her unique sonic imagination.
In the late 1950s, Dlugoszewski collaborated with close friend and sculptor Ralph Dorazio to design and construct many of these instruments—a process that continued and evolved for decades. The Dlugoszewski/Hawkins Trust has preserved the collection, and in recent years, Dustin Hurt and percussionist Andy Thierauf documented it through detailed photographs and measurements. Building on this research, Dustin Donahue created new working replicas that will be used in the upcoming Philadelphia performances. A Baltimore-based contemporary percussionist, Donahue has studied Dlugoszewski’s percussion music extensively, including collaborative work with Rebecca Lloyd-Jones. This session will include archival recordings, historical materials, and appearances by both original and replica instruments, offering a rare window into Dlugoszewski’s percussive world.
This online program takes place from 1:00pm to 2:00pm Eastern US time (EDT) as a Zoom Webinar. Registration is required, but free. An archive of the program will be available on the page after the event.
This event is part of PURE LUCIA, a retrospective of the life and work of Lucia Dlugoszewski.
Major support for PURE LUCIA: THE MUSIC OF LUCIA DLUGOSZEWSKI has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Amphion Foundation.
