THE WITNESS by Pauline Oliveros; Still Listening in Kingston, Talking Gong

615 Broadway,Kingston NY 12401

29 May, 2021

Description

Featuring Talking Gong Trio (Claire Chase/Susie Ibarra/Alex Peh), IONE, Peter Wetzler, Norman Lowrey, Lisa B Kelley, Leaf Miller and more! Saturday, May 29—the “joint birthday” of IONE (May 28) and Pauline Oliveros (May 30)—Talking Gong will invite participants in the previous week’s explorations to gather and join forces at the Deep Listening Plaza at sunset for a community performance of “The Witness.” The event will be filmed and will join a living archive of “Witnesses” around the world as part of the SONIC MATTER Festival. As part of SONIC MATTER—an international, multi-year festival bringing together artists, scientists, environmentalists and the general public—flutist Claire Chase and Talking Gong (percussionist/sound artist Susie Ibarra, pianist Alex Peh and Chase) join selected students, artists and community members in the Hudson Valley area in a weeklong exploration of Pauline Oliveros’ seminal 1989 open-form work “The Witness.” The piece, which is scored for an ensemble of two to one hundred or more performers, asks participants to engage in three specific strategies for listening and responding to their environment. “The Witness” may be performed either as music, movement, or drama, or in any combination. For this special iteration of the project in the area in which Oliveros and Ione made their home for over 3 decades , Talking Gong is honored to work alongside the celebrated author, playwright/director and poet IONE.