UNCSA to present immersive, outdoor music performance of “Ten Thousand Birds” on Sept. 16

The concert will be at 3 p.m. Sept. 16. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for non-UNCSA students with valid ID online or by calling the box office at 336-721-1945.

“This is a fascinating piece,” said School of Music Dean Saxton Rose. “The performers move around as they play, and the audience is encouraged to move around and experience it and the nature around them. So, if you’re a birdwatcher or a bird lover, I’m sure you will enjoy this experience."

The performance, which will last approximately 70 minutes, will follow the cycle of a day, starting with avian songs of the morning, then afternoon, evening, night, and finally returning to morning. “All the sounds in this music are specifically notated,” the composer wrote. “However, the moment-to-moment sequence of events is not fixed. There is no master score. …

“This folio of unbound pages is an atlas of musical possibilities for performers to use in creating their own unique realizations of the music,” Adams continued. The New York Times interpreted it this way: “Adams, our reigning musical ambassador of the natural world, hasn’t written a score here in the usual sense. It is an Audubon book in translation: each page, the portrait of a bird in sound.”

Living in Alaska for nearly 40 years, Adams worked full time as an environmental activist before deciding to dedicate himself entirely to music. Since that time he has become one of the most widely admired composers in the world. “It’s more important than ever for us to remember our connections with the larger-than-human world,” Adams said, “and to celebrate the never-ending music of this miraculous planet that is our one and only home.”

In preparation for the entrancing event, Harley has been working with students remotely and will lead the performance in-person.

“It’s been a real pleasure to work with UNCSA students on the piece; this music, which is constructed from the composer's instrumental “translations” of bird calls and other nature sounds, is quite different from what most have played in the past, I suspect, and requires a different sort of listening and preparation. Among other things, they are required to commit much of the music to memory, and within parameters can improvise when and what they play. They’ve embraced the challenge with totally open minds.

“I’ve only met with them virtually at this point, mainly as individuals and sections, so it will be really gratifying when we can finally rehearse the piece in person, in the space. That’s when the work will really begin to make more sense. 

“I hope the audience feels the same sense of renewal I experience whenever I perform or listen to this piece! There is something remarkably restorative about the music and the experience of the work, something that allows us to live in the moment.”

About Alarm Will Sound

Alarm Will Sound’s repertoire ranges from arch-modernist to pop-influenced, and its approach goes beyond the music itself. The group frequently incorporates video, text, theater and movement into productions to inspire new questions by listeners and encourage the search for new answers. Since their earliest days playing together at the Eastman School of Music, the members of Alarm Will Sound have collaborated with composers, designers, writers, choreographers and videographers — a wide range of compelling experimental artists — in pursuit of undiscovered artistic territory.

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