Bass Hall, Monadnock Center for History & Culture (Peterborough Historical Society)
American naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau believed “there is music in every sound,” and held that the natural world was an ongoing miracle perceptible to anyone whose eyes were truly open. Electric Earth Concerts has built an entire evening’s entertainment around Thoreau’s persona and ideas, and the influence of his transcendental thought on the art of music. Several Thoreau-inspired pieces will share space on the program with utterances from the writer’s probingly poetic journals, and with a photographic essay on his New England haunts created by the late photographer Robert Sargent Fay. The mixed-media program is a multi-faceted journey infused with the spirit and ideas of America’s greatest natural philosopher.
Anchoring the program, Charles Ives’ “Concord” Sonata will be performed by acclaimed pianist Randall Hodgkinson. The evening begins with Toru Takemitsu’s 1981 “Toward the Sea,” which describes a visit to Cape Cod, set to Robert Fay’s images. “Talking to Vaseduva,” Nathan Davis’ uniquely conceived percussion work for a natural “xylophone” of found riverbed stones, is perfectly in sync with the evening’s theme. Two new pieces written for the occasion by composers Lawrence Siegel and Dominic Coles will then be heard for the first time. The program is threaded through with readings by actors Pamela White and Warren Hammack. A new soundscape commissioned from composer Nicholas Stoia completes the evening’s highly varied yet tightly woven experience.
Speaking about the event, co-Artistic Director Jonathan Bagg says: “We are excited to present an event that reaches beyond established notions of what a concert is; the mingling of Thoreau’s ideas with images and music look for something compelling built on the entirety of the experience. This is a one-of –a-kind evening, never to be repeated in this exact form.”
The program takes place in Bass Hall at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture in Peterborough, on Saturday, August 24, at 7:30 p.m.
