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.
Reminiscence (Choo-uhk) by Youngsup Choi and May Arirang are two traditional Korean songs. Reminiscence tells the story of haenyoe, who are known as “women of the sea.” They are female divers living in the Korean province of Jeju whose livelihood consists of harvesting molluscs, seaweed and other kinds of seafood. The song is set in winter, and the narrator recalls someone or something from her past that she tries to forget. The music evokes a sense of emptiness, and the listener is compelled to feel compassion for the woman’s broken heart. May Arirang is a well-known song. This version was arranged for operatic voices by Wonjoo Lee. The catchy, swaying rhythms of the song invoke images of the hilly landscape that the narrator conjures when she warns her lover not to leave her. As a dramatic contrast to the locations referenced in the songs, Lee performs within the covered walkway between the Frederic Lasserre and School of Music buildings. Chosen less for the architecture’s formal repetition of columns and roof trusses and more for the kind of resonant space the voice requires, this tucked-away location presented an unusual site for performance.
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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Lucy Strauss plays viola on the knoll in front of the AMS Student Nest building at UBC.
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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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