Sound in the Land 2014 – Music and the Environment – a Festival/Conference of Mennonites and music, June 5 – 8, 2014 at Conrad Grebel University College/UW, will explore ways of hearing the earth and listening to the environment. The third in a series of highly successful events, Sound in the Land 2014 will combine concerts – choral, vocal, chamber, orchestral, soundscape, multimedia, folk/jazz – with workshops, academic conference sessions, nature/sound walks, and singing, as we discover ecological understandings of music and sound, both locally and globally. As part of Grebel’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, this event brings together musicians, environmentalists, ethnomusicologists, writers and artists into fields of ‘creation care’ and ecomusicology, studying sound from an environmentally ethical basis, consistent with long-standing Mennonite values.
Famed Canadian composer and founder of World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, R. Murray Schafer, will be one of the keynote speakers. Internationally acclaimed composer/media artist Cecilia Kim and her Korean troupe will present Earth Songs, combining traditional Korean music with evocative sonic/visual elements. Newly commissioned compositions by Larry Warkentin, Joanne Bender, and Bryan Moyer Suderman will be premiered by Waterloo Chamber Players, Inter-Mennonite Children’s Choir, Tactus Choral Ensemble and others. Mennofolk music will, in turn, be coordinated by Bryan Moyer Suderman, Mike Erb and Joanne Moyer. Events will occur in Grebel’s new Centre for Peace Advancement, historic Detweiler Meetinghouse (Roseville), Knox Presbyterian (Waterloo), Theatre of the Arts (UW), and local nature reserves. Director Carol Ann Weaver says, “We hope to listen to the earth differently, finding new ways to create musical responses to our beautiful planet stressed by climate change, over-population, soil/water/air contamination, shrinking natural habitats, and endangered species. We are already part of the earth’s ecology so our music is part of a wider global sound.”
Visit the Sound in the Land 2014 Event Page.