Millersville University's Tell School of Music faculty will open the 2023 academic year with "Creatures: Some Mythical - Visual Meets Sonic Art" on Thursday, Jan. 19. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. in the Owen Salon at the Ware Center, 42 N. Prince St., Lancaster.

"Creatures: Some Mythical - Visual Meets Sonic Art" is a work created by adjunct professor Rusty Banks, composer and guitarist; Dan Zdilla, collage artist; and Andy Babin, projections designer. Banks conceived the work as an instrumental piece for classical guitar and surround sound electronics. Each movement depicts a real or imaginary creature ever-present in Banks' childhood conscience, such as the firefly, hellbender and doodle bug.

After viewing an exhibit of Zdilla's collages in a local gallery, Banks approached him about creating works based on the creatures. The results are six works made entirely from pieces cut from copies of National Geographic Magazine. Zdilla deconstructed the original found imagery into scraps and bits of formal elements such as color, value and texture and then reassembled these elements into new images.

Babin, with tech support from 4-Wall Entertainment, created animations to be projected behind the performer using high-resolution scans of Zdilla's works. The overall effect is like walking into the collages and exploring the landscape within. The music ranges from ambient to experimental to lyrical, with the sounds of the classical guitar sometimes altered and moving throughout the space, such as from the front of the audience to the back of the room.

Banks was born in Jasper, Ala., and lives in Lancaster. His compositions have been performed in Asia, Europe, Canada and Mexico, as well as throughout the U.S. Besides writing concert music for ballet, orchestra, wind ensemble and other acoustic ensembles, Banks designs pieces that use traditional performers, user-end electronics and video within dynamic audio/video installations.

Zdilla is an artist, musician and teacher from Lancaster. He works in collage, creating naturalistic imagery that is at times representational or allegorical. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in art education from Millersville University.

Known internationally as a lighting and video designer for live events, Ephrata native Babin has had his work included in performances by the Foo Fighters as well as The Weeknd's halftime performance at the 2021 NFL championship.

Space is limited. To purchase tickets, visit http://www.artsmu.com, call the box office at 717-871-7600 or visit the box office at the Ware Center or in the Student Memorial Center on the campus of Millersville University.