From the Gaia Cycle Matrix. A work in UMI (Universal Mode Improvisation), a style created by Elodie Lauten, combining key signatures and ethnic modes as a basis for tonal, polytonal or atonal improvisations. Elodie Lauten has been described as a seminal figure, one of the leaders of the postminimalist movement (20th Century American Music, Schirmer, 1997), "a force on the experimental music scene" (Fanfare, Spring 98). Recordings have been released by o.o. Discs, Nonsequitur, Tellus, Polygram/Point, Lovely Music, Silenzio, Frog Peak and New Tone. Lauten has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and commissions from Lincoln Center, The Soho Baroque Opera, The Queen's Chamber Band, The Lark Ascending, Elinor Coleman Dance Company, and David Hockney, to name a few.