"Bowed Piano Ensemble" at the CAC

His music has been called "an orchestral array of tone colors, harmonies and rhythms."

Composer Stephen Scott and his "Bowed Piano Ensemble" perform music for inside the piano, 8 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 26) at the Contemporary Arts Center, downtown.

"As the name of the group conveys, almost all sounds are made on the inside of the piano, and the 'bowing' of the instrument is the central means of sound production," says Michael Fiday, composer and faculty member at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, which is presenting the ensemble.

The sounds are made by pulling strands of horse hair between the piano's strings. The performance will also include percussive effects, muted notes and even (gasp) notes played on the keyboard the old-fashioned way. The music is post-minimalist in style.

For the program, Scott, a professor of composition and jazz at Colorado College, will perform the premiere of his "New York Drones," in honor of the 70th birthday of American minimalist composer Steve Reich, Scott's onetime colleague of African drumming in Ghana. The concert also includes "The Deep Spaces," a large-scale song-cycle inspired by Italy's Lake Como, with soprano soloist Victoria Hansen.

Tickets: $15; $7 students; UC students are free. Information: 513-345-8405. Watch a video clip on the Bowed Piano Ensemble's Web site.