CD Makes a Splash
Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas
audio recording features hiking opera singers & water percussionists
“... exquisite darkness… whimsical lines… captivating experience.”
Audio
One day, composer Byron Au Yong was overcome in the bottled water section of the supermarket. He heard voices from Poland Spring and Fiji cry out. Au Yong, a Seattle-based musician who composes songs of dislocation, realized that water was kidnapped and taken far from home.
In response, he created 64 musical miniatures for voice and percussion to be performed in, about, and around water. While composing, Au Yong was inspired by listening to water and studying the I Ching 易經 (Book of Changes). He invited eight librettists from around the world to create contemporary responses to the I Ching, one of the oldest Chinese texts.
Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas travels through warnings, prayers, fantasies, and whispers in a thematic review for future generations about an element older than man. Human voices and splashing water cry out harder than the silent wisdom of hair turned white.
The initiative was performed in 64 waterways throughout the Pacific Northwest in Summer 2008, as part of 4Culture’s Site-Specific Performance Network and the Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts. A Sound/Light Installation, created with media sculptor Randy Moss, was shown at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Fall 2008.
audio recording features hiking opera singers & water percussionists
“... exquisite darkness… whimsical lines… captivating experience.”
~The Stranger
Audio
One day, composer Byron Au Yong was overcome in the bottled water section of the supermarket. He heard voices from Poland Spring and Fiji cry out. Au Yong, a Seattle-based musician who composes songs of dislocation, realized that water was kidnapped and taken far from home.
Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas travels through warnings, prayers, fantasies, and whispers in a thematic review for future generations about an element older than man. Human voices and splashing water cry out harder than the silent wisdom of hair turned white.
The initiative was performed in 64 waterways throughout the Pacific Northwest in Summer 2008, as part of 4Culture’s Site-Specific Performance Network and the Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts. A Sound/Light Installation, created with media sculptor Randy Moss, was shown at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Fall 2008.
Audio Demo | Creative Team Byron Au Yong, composer Randy Moss, media sculptor Libretti by: Eugenie Chan, Bret Fetzer, Aaron Jafferis, Archana Kumar, Carola Luther, Caroline Murphy, Vivian Umino, Edisa Weeks Performed by... Singers Josie Davis, Emily Greenleaf, Jeremiah Oliver, David Stutz Percussionists Stuart McLeod, Dean Moore, Benjamin Morrow, James Whetzel Tom Stiles, audio engineer Wing Fong, CD designer Support MAP Fund 4Culture Site-Specific Arts Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts Jack Straw New Media Gallery |