Georgia Southern University’s Department of Music is hosting Channel Noise XX, a concert series featuring guest composer John Nichols III. The concert is a three day event, celebrating the 20th Channel Noise concert.

“The Channel Noise concert series has been a mainstay of the Electro-Acoustic and Avant-Garde electronic music scene since its inception, and continues to bring relevant and contemporary composers to the Statesboro area,” according to the GS Music Department’s press release. 

“The concert will feature an eight speaker configuration to immerse the listeners in spatially coordinated sounds,” according to the GS event calendar.  

John Nichols III, the featured guest composer, has presented his work around the globe. He has won many awards, including the Luigi Russolo award in 2014, according to the press release.

“His compositions extend from sound design and studio composition to theatrical works,” according to the press release. 

Along with Dr. Nichols, GS alumni and current students will be performing. The event will also feature original student compositions, said Ryan Devens, music technology graduate assistant.  

“It’s gonna be weird electronic stuff. We have eight channels of like $60,000 worth of speakers going, but it’s just bigger. Longer,” said Ryan Devens, graduate assistant for the Music Technology department. 

“There’s no way that this would be going on in Statesboro if it wasn’t for the college and wasn’t for the music technology department, and I think that’s just one of the many benefits of being in a college town is you get this little culture bubble,” said Devens. “I think it kind of reaches out to the community a little bit … I think it really gives an outlet for people who are interested in that kind of thing, and you don’t even have to go to Savannah for it.”

Nichols III will be performing all three days. Performers on Thursday are Art Berger, Hugo Flores and Ryan Devens. Performers on Friday include Lucas Baugham, Matt Bryant, Jarrett Thompson and RJ Jackson. On Saturday, Eric Stetson and E Farr, Alex Sellers and Jarrett Thompson will be performing. There will be different pieces performed each day.  

The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. all three days. Each day is expected to last between one hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Devens said they’re hoping for 100 people in attendance. 

Devens said the genre is important to music in order to keep pushing it forward. He noted that classic pieces or musicians like Beethoven are something we have the tendency to fall back on. However, at that time, these musicians–especially the romantic composers–were very innovative and a little shocking.    

“Having a genre like this kind of pushes the boundaries and then pushes the boundaries outside of LA and New York, you know, because you can find that there anytime,” said Devens. “But here in Statesboro, we’re still kind of pushing the limits, redefining it a little bit.”

The event is free and open to the public.