Orecchio alla Terra / Ear to the Earth in Italy
The first European Ear to the Earth festival took place at various venues in Pesaro and Urbino, Italy, from June 25 - 28. The sound artists and musicians included Joel Chadabe, Francisco Lopez, David Monacchi, Hildegard Westerkamp, Walter Branchi, Natasha Barrett, and Eugenio Giordani.
This festival was produced by the Conservatorio Statale di Musica “G. Rossini” in collaboration with Electronic Music Foundation and Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, co-directed by Eugenio Giordani and David Monacchi at the Electronic Laboratory for Experimental Music, with additional collaboration in visual media by Roberto Vecchiarelli at Quartermass(X).
Go to EMF Productions for more detailed information ... Go
Ear to the Earth 2010: Water and the World
It is obvious that directly and indirectly, in the course of our daily activities and in the support of distant life forms, water is crucial to our lives. Yet we are heading towards a crisis in managing the waters of the world. To address the crisis, we need to reach an understanding of the issues we face with water. And we need to become aware of the ways we use water in the context of the physical realities of our changing environment.
To quote Bernie Krause, "Seventy percent of the earth is water in all its forms, from the heat vents deep in the Mariana Trench, to the last of the snows on Kilimanjaro. From the killer droughts in Africa to the rising seas taking out villages in Alaska and the Pacific south sea islands."
Ear to the Earth 2010 is about understanding the current states of water in the world and our social and cultural attitudes towards water. We're interested in the sounds of water and/or sounds or performances that will make us aware of water. We want to direct attention to environmental issues relating to water, among them drinkable water, melting ice, rising sea levels, polluted rivers, overfishing, storm intensity, and salinity, to name a few.
The festival will take place during October 2010 in various venues throughout New York City and throughout the world. There'll be documentary field recordings, instrumental and electronic compositions, performances, installations, interactive websites, and other forms of experimental audio with imagery and multimedia. The festival will include panels and forums with scientists, composers, and sound- and multimedia artists.
Go to the Events page for a Call for Works ... Go
New Yorkers, Listen!
New York is a harbor city. And New York Soundscape, a project of Ear to the Earth, is a panoramic portrayal of New York City's personality and urban ecology in sound, including its rivers, harbor, ponds, and islands. The festival will include events and field recordings that relate to New York waters.
Watch this Space
We're going to describe events, make sound clips and images available, lead you to articles, and introduce you to artists and their work. Please come back soon ...
About Ear to the Earth
"Modern ecologists may have reached a limit on how effectively they can convey messages to the public, and they may now need to draw upon the emotional vibrancy offered by the arts."
- Mark Moffett, ecologist, prize-winning photographer for National Geographic, recipient of the Lowell Thomas Medal from the Explorers Club and Rolex
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Ear to the Earth is a worldwide network based on the idea that environmental sound and multimedia can connect us to the environment with a special vibrancy and emotional depth. 
News and Notices
Gotham City Networking, New York based network of leaders in business, finance, law, arts, entertainment, and other fields, recognized Electronic Music Foundation with its 2009 Green Initiative Award for Ear to the Earth.
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Ear to the Earth 09, a series of 3 concerts and a forum, took place on October 8, 9, and 10 at Judson Church in New York City. The theme was bio-diversity. Featured events include the first New York performance of Secret Piece by Yoko Ono, new works by Bruce Odland/Sam Auinger and Elliott Sharp, Steven Feld and Nii Otoo Annan demonstrating connections between rhythm and the environment, David Monacchi presenting Sounds of the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve, and an open forum with discussions of bio-diversity and presentations by artists ... go to the EMF Productions site for detailsEar to the Earth is a program of Electronic Music Foundation.
For more information on Electronic Music Foundation (EMF) and its programs, visit the EMF website.
SITES
EMF :: Arts Electric :: EMF Productions :: Ear to the Earth :: CDeMusic :: EMF Media :: EMF Institute