Sonic Responses invites eight musicians and one composer to respond to the changed aural conditions of UBC’s outdoor spaces. Their music making confronts and enters into a dialogue with the quiet that currently resides on campus. Responding to different locales and situations, the repertoire for Sonic Responses stretches across a broad range of traditions.
In the warm early-June sun, Joseph Eggleston performs two movements from Bach’s Cello Suites amongst a cacophony of unruly growth and bird song. In the background, the repeated lines and “bars” of the Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre conjure the structure of a notated musical score. While other sites on campus are iconic in their representation of Western “placemaking” (bell towers and fountains), this modest site located off the central thoroughfare of Main Mall offers the atmosphere of an informal backyard. Bach’s Cello Suites are among the most performed pieces of the classical cello repertoire. The Suites consist of movements inspired by Baroque dances. Eggleston has selected the Allemande movements from the Suites in D Minor and D Major. The Allemande is a dance of German origin that, as a contemporary of Bach wrote, “must be composed and likewise danced in a grave and ceremonious manner.” The two movements have the seriousness associated with the genre, but they achieve it through different means. The D Minor Suite movement (performed first) moves briskly for an Allemande but does so in a determined, earnest way. The D Major Suite movement, on the other hand, unfolds long, florid melodic lines to create spells of reflective lyricism.
Sonic Responses furthers the collaborations between the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music that will continue through Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts (Fall 2020). The project is led by Barbara Cole, Curator of Outdoor Art, David Metzer, Professor of Musicology and Chair of the University Art Committee, and Judith Valerie Engel, a doctoral candidate in piano performance. Sonic Responses was initiated by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in collaboration with the School of Music and supported by the British Columbia Arts Council’s Arts and Culture Resilience Supplemental Award and UBC’s Catalyzing Research Clusters Program.
Images (above and below): Rachel Topham Photography
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Carlos Savall Guardiola on clarinet performing “Abîme des oiseaux / The Abyss of the Birds” by Olivier Messiaen as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed on Trail 7 adjacent to the University of British Columbia, located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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Joseph Eggleston on cello as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed behind the Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre just east of the Fairview Grove at the University of British Columbia located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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Nathania Ko on Chinese harp performing “Earth,” the first piece of the cycle “Pao Xiu Luo Lan” by Xijiin Liu as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed between the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability and the Pacific Museum of Earth at the University of British Columbia located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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Sempùlyan on drum singing a Musqueam paddle song as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed in Library Garden (near Learner’s Walk) at the University of British Columbia, located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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Sodam Lee sings traditional Korean songs as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed under a covered walkway between the Frederic Lassarre and School of Music buildings at the University of British Columbia located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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Taees Gheirati on santour as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed in the wooded area between the Asian Centre and Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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Valerie Whitney on French horn performing “Idiom” by Elizabeth Raum as part of Sonic Responses, a collaboration between the UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the School of Music. Performed on the southeast exterior staircase of the Friedman Building at the University of British Columbia located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
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A series of performances that explore the sounds - and silence - of a now-quiet campus.
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