2 public ticketed shows: 5 and 7:30 pm
(private show: Saturday 7/19 at 7:30 pm)
tickets link here:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6673410
LONG STRINGS is a visually stunning concert of new music that transforms Zidell Shipyard’s barge building into a gigantic sonic sculpture!
For this once-in-a-lifetime performance, audiences will experience ARACHNE, the world’s largest tensioned-steel-cable Long String Instrument: a massive web of tuned steel cables up to 160+ feet in length that spans the cavernous building’s interior through both vertical and horizontal space. Bound to the building’s metal girders, ARACHNE’s mighty strings create a resonant body from the architecture itself.
The incredible sounds made by this sculpture as it is played with full-body choreography will be interwoven with voice, harpsichord, percussion, cello, and storytelling in an unforgettable tapestry of tones ancient and new.
Special musical guests include Diane Chaplin on cello, Paul Safar on medieval hurdy gurdy, and guest composer/performer Lucas Marshall Smith on spoken word and throat singing.
As Composer in Residence @ Zidell for 2 1/2 years, composer-musician Jennifer Wright has immersed herself in the site’s physical and cultural archeology, reimagining it through an artist’s eyes and ears as a playground full of hidden potential while honoring its deep and complicated layers of history and meaning.
Also featured in LONG STRINGS will be multiple large sonic installations and sound machines that she built from 3000+ pounds of metal industrial debris and ship parts found on site, including the Cloud Gamelan, the Ceremonial Bound Gong, the Steel Mandala, The Kelp Forest, The Hanging Gamelan, The Albatross, and Wright’s original 20-foot-long Long Strings prototype. Each of these creations, as well as the unique sound experiences they bring forth, explore aspects of myth, magic, and transformation.
LONG STRINGS will be an unforgettable performance experience that reflects upon the power of placemaking, connection, courage, and personal conviction in trying times.
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