Songs from the Garden

"Be Still" (photo by Luigi Anzivino)

I had seen the beautiful image taken by Luigi Anzivino above, but today I happened upon another stash of performance photos, by James Eilers, of my performance at this year's Garden of Memory. Regular readers might recall that I did a set of solos and duets (with Elisabeth Commanday) for unaccompanied voice by Meredith Monk at this annual new music extravaganza. Nearly two months after the fact, I hope folks will still accept a belated thanks for coming out to hear me. It meant a lot to have you there, especially those who stuck it out in the heat for a whole set, who came up to introduce themselves afterwards, and who told other people to come for later sets. I wish I could have thanked each of you individually. 

For those who missed it: on what felt like the hottest day in the history of the world, I performed four half-hour sets of solos from Volcano Songs and from Songs from the Hill, plus two duets from Facing North, in essentially a greenhouse with no circulation and sunlight beaming down through skylights to intensify the broil. Facing North, I'd like to point out, was originally created in the dead of winter in northern Canada. So while I was trying to envision seeing my breath in crisp, clear Arctic air, I was also trying to ignore the river of sweat that was coursing down my neck and back. 

I'm not exactly sure how I deluded myself into believing it was reasonable to perform two hours of unaccompanied music, during which every iota of energy and sound in that room had to come out of my and Elisabeth's bodies in concentrated form. Even in the silences there wasn't the luxury of letting up at all, because it was abundantly clear that if I became unfocused for even a moment, the performance would dissipate immediately. There was no safety net, nothing to fall back on. It was a pretty terrifying and exhausting day, actually, but ultimately gratifying on a level beyond what I could have ever expected.

Someday I might post some video, if I can convince myself to watch it. In the meantime, here are the photos I mentioned above. Thanks again to everyone for their support, and especially to Elisabeth for sharing the burden with me and to the incomparable Sarah Cahill for masterminding the whole event. You should put next year's Garden of Memory on your 2009 calendar now.

Comments

[Lisa Hirsch]

You were great! I'm so glad I got to hear you. I have a few photos but they are bad; I should have brought the film cameras and maybe a tripod.