Live performance of works from Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening Pieces, followed by a screening of the new documentary Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros.
Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016), composer, performer, humanitarian, was an important pioneer in American music. Acclaimed internationally, for six decades she explored sound-forging new ground for herself and others. Through improvisation, electronic music, ritual, teaching and meditation she created a body of work with such a breadth of vision that it profoundly effects those who experience it and eludes many who try to write about it. Oliveros was honoured with many awards, including four honorary doctorates, grants and concerts internationally.
7pm to 8pm: Performance with artists Ximena Alarcon, Tina Hitchens and Dan Johnson
‘A Fluting Moment’ – Tina Hitchens (solo flute).
‘Rolling Meditation’ – Dan Johnson (solo percussion).
‘Horse Sings From Cloud’ – Ximena Alarcon (voice), Tina Hitchens (flute), and Dan Johnson (percussion).
A sound and listening artist-researcher, Ximena Alarcon brings 13 years of postdoctoral creative research focused on listening to our sonic migrations: through voice, language, body, dreams and networking technologies. She trusts in the healing power that improvising and sounding with others between distant locations can bring to feelings of geographical and cultural loss. Working closely with, and under the tutelage of, Pauline Oliveros, Ximena has studied Deep Listening for over 15 years and is a Senior Tutor at the Centre for Deep Listening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. In addition to being part of the NowNet Arts team, Ximena’s collaborators include: Viv Corringham, Sarah Weaver, Gloria Damjan, and Jane Wang.
Tina Hitchens is an improviser, composer and sound artist who often collaborates across disciplines including free improvisation, sound art, dance and contemporary classical music. She is interested in the process of experiencing ourselves with others in sound as an embodied collective encounter, and in deep listening. In addition to being an active performer Tina is an accomplished educator and music therapist-in-training. She has studied and taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, is a member of Viridian Ensemble and has collaborated with Keith Tippett, Sam Francis, Hannah Marshall, Yvonna Madga, Mathew Grigg, Dominic Lash, and Chris Cundy.
Dan Johnson is a percussionist, performance artist, teacher and deep listening facilitator. He is known for pushing the boundaries of how drumming is perceived through his solo work, in particular his durational performance art pieces exploring sound and movement. He recently attended a residency in Greece at the Marina Abramovic institute and studied at the Centre for Deep Listening in 2022. Dan’s approach is infinitely adaptable and centred around meaningful exploration. Audiences have described his performances as vulnerable, generous, enduring and untethered. He co-founded the band Run Logan Run and was a primary collaborator with Dali de Saint Paul’s improvised music and visual art collective EP/64.
8:30pm to 10:30pm Screening of Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros, directed by Daniel Weintraub (2022).
“Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros” tells the story of the iconic composer, performer, teacher, philosopher, technological innovator and humanitarian, Pauline Oliveros. She was one of the world’s original electronic musicians, one of the only females amongst notable post-war American composers, a master accordion player, a teacher and mentor to musicians, a gateway to music and sound for non-musicians and a technical innovator who helped develop everything from tools that allow musicians to play together while in different countries to software that enables those with severe disabilities to create beautiful music. On the vanguard of contemporary American music for six decades, her story illuminates the pathway to how we got where we are and where the future will take us in the worlds of music, the philosophy of sound, and the art of listening.
Produced in collaboration with executive producer Ione, Oliveros’ partner in life and work, and the Ministry of Maåt, Inc., the film combines rare archival footage, live performances, and unreleased music with appearances by Terry Riley, Anna Halprin, Ione, Linda Montano, Laurie Anderson, Thurston Moore, Alvin Lucier, Claire Chase, Miya Masaoka, Morton Subotnick, Tony Martin, Ramon Sencer and many more ground-breaking artists.
“Weintraub’s film, which largely allows Oliveros herself to tell her story and explain her discoveries and ideas through recorded interviews that are peppered with commentary from her peers (Riley, Morton Subotnick) and disciples (Thurston Moore), is never at odds with the central tenets of the Deep Listening ethos. In fact, it leaves the viewer not only wanting to explore her music further, but to pay more attention to the sounds around them – something the composer no doubt would have appreciated.” (Peter Aaron, Chronogram).
Film screening presented in association with Doc’n Roll Film Festival
