Navigation Without Numbers

George Hurd is a San Francisco-based composer whose work has focused on chamber music, electronic music, and the fascinating world where they intersect. Upon moving to the Bay Area in 2007, he formed The Hurd Ensemble, an electro-acoustic chamber group made up of some of the Bay Area’s best musicians, dedicated to performing his compositions for small-to-medium chamber ensemble and electronics. His work often fixates on the role of memory in music, using electronic sounds that are made entirely by him, recorded on his travels from the past 15 years, each encapsulating a memory from the place and time they were recorded. His first album, Navigation Without Numbers, features a recent composition of the same name for acclaimed violinist Carla Kihlstedt.

Focused on unifying the worlds of electronic and classical music, all Hurd Ensemble compositions are written for string quartet (violin, viola, cello, upright bass), piano and electronics (as well as frequent use of vibraphone, bass clarinets, harp and steel pans), and is meticulously bound together with digitally-arranged sounds collected from Hurd’s travels. The electronics are layered so as to create textures that complement the acoustic instruments, giving rise to a sound that is extremely organic despite its partially digital origins. Accessible and daring, its percussive yet lyrical qualities make it at home in both concert halls and nightclubs.