Excerpts from Auksalaq
Matthew Burtner · music, libretto, technical systems
Scott Deal · media, production, technical systems
First performance October 31 at Ear to the Earth 2010
Matthew Burtner and Scott Deal's Auksalaq, which means "melting ice" in the Inuit language, is an opera about climate change and global warming. This performance of Excerpts from Auksalaq includes Burtner’s music for ecoacoustic ensemble—Iceprints, Windprints, and Cloudprints—performed with interactive video by Scott Deal, Jordan Munson and Miho Aoki. An audience-interactive mobile computer system allows the audience to participate in the performance in real time.
The opera is based on interlocking environmental forces as eco-musical forms, representing the profound changes in the Arctic Ocean as a result of human activity. The interactive video mixes interviews, field video recordings, and news broadcasts into a multifaceted stream expressing the complex environmental and cultural implications of these changes.
This performance took place at the NYU Frederick Loewe Theater in New York City on Sunday, October 31, 2010, as part of the Ear to the Earth Festival 2010. Joan La Barbara was the narrator. The musicians included flautist Margaret Lancaster, pianist Shau-uen Ding, the NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble directed by Esther Lamneck, and the NYU Percussion Ensemble directed by Jonathan Haas. Tom Beyer was technical director.
Opening words
Windprints
Photos by Shimpei Takeda
SITES
EMF :: Arts Electric :: EMF Productions :: Ear to the Earth :: CDeMusic :: EMF Media :: EMF Institute