Division of Time brings together the London-based Gandini Juggling, celebrated cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, and composer Eric Nathan, professor at Brown University, in a work that considers the relationship between humanity and technology.
The work combines music and movement to explore the interplay between human creativity and mechanical precision. The cello serves as the central voice, with Zeigler’s expressive playing portraying a range of human emotions—by turns earnest, playful, joyful, lamenting, and defiant. In dialogue with the piano, the cello guides, collaborates, and responds to the instrument’s increasing independence, embodying the tension between the organic and the mechanical.
Nathan’s piano writing treats the player piano as an autonomous instrument, capable of textures and rhythms beyond human performance. This approach creates passages of mechanical clarity alongside moments of warmth and lyricism, extending the contrast between human and machine.
The structure of Division of Time unfolds in ten sections, each associated with the numerals 0 through 9. These movements take inspiration from the symbolic and cultural associations of numbers, drawing on traditions in which numbers carry meaning beyond mathematics. The accompanying juggling interprets these ideas visually, using patterns, ratios, and choreography to create images that reflect themes of harmony, conflict, duality, and connection.
At its core, the piece reflects on the ways technology, symbolism, and human experience intersect. Musical and visual patterns intertwine—the striking of the piano’s hammers echoes the rhythms and trajectories of juggling—linking mechanical processes with human gesture.
The final movement offers an intimate duet based on the opening theme, suggesting both closure and renewal. Division of Time ultimately invites audiences to reflect on how we navigate an increasingly mechanized world while maintaining a sense of humanity and meaning.