Zeitgiest’s annual Playing it Close to Home concert is a celebration of the wealth of musical creativity found right here in our own backyard. This year we’re featuring Viv Corringham, a British vocalist, composer and sound artist who has worked internationally since the early 1980s. After calling Minnesota home for many years, she has recently re-located to New York. Her work includes music performances, audio installations and soundwalks. She is interested in exploring people's special relationship with familiar places and how that links to an interior landscape of personal history, memory and association. Her ongoing project Shadow-walks has been presented in gallery shows from New York to Istanbul to Hong Kong.
Tell us about the new piece you wrote for Zeitgeist to perform at Playing it Close to Home.
Actually I've written two new pieces. "Taps & Rattles" is a text score based on the late percussionist Paul Burwell's writings about sound. The other score- "Lookout Trail"- is a map of a walk I did regularly while in residence at Montalvo, California, last year. Both aim to stimulate creative improvisation within certain structures.
What are going to be the highlights of the Playing it Close to Home concerts?
These performances are always enjoyable and I look forward to hearing what the Eric Stokes Song Contest winners have come up with. Plus it will be great to hear more of Nathan Hanson’s compositions- he's such an asset for the Twin Cities. In terms of my own pieces, a highlight will be hearing what on earth Zeitgeist do with a score that asks them to interpret "tree of the angry squirrel" and "traffic cone"!
When did you start creating music derived from walking, and where did the idea come from?
I've enjoyed walking all my life, and I love listening to the sounds around me as I go. But walking and music really connected for me about 15 years ago, when I started wandering through London wearing binaural microphones (small and discreet) and singing with the soundscape. Soon after that I began my longstanding project Shadow-walks, where other people take me on their special walks and later I "sing the walk." And now walking seems to pop up in most of my musical activities, including scores and solo performances.
What are some of the projects you are working on now that you’ve moved to New York?
I've been traveling a lot since I moved there- I'm just back from a tour in Australia- so I haven't had much time to really get settled yet. But I've started to make musical connections and have played a few gigs in the city. I hope to do a lot more. At the moment, I'm about to start working with recordings I made in Australia and trying to finish the piece I began in Montalvo. I'm also setting up a small solo tour in eastern US and Canada for March to promote my new Innova CDWalking.
Playing it Close to Home
Feb. 21-22, 7:30 p.m.
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200
Feb. 23, 2 p.m.
Roseville High School: 1240 County Road B-2 West, Roseville
$10 Friday and Sunday
$20 Saturday fundraiser performance
Saturday’s performance includes a special post-concert event with wine, hors d'oeuvres and conversation with Viv Corringham and Nathan Hanson.
Actually I've written two new pieces. "Taps & Rattles" is a text score based on the late percussionist Paul Burwell's writings about sound. The other score- "Lookout Trail"- is a map of a walk I did regularly while in residence at Montalvo, California, last year. Both aim to stimulate creative improvisation within certain structures.
What are going to be the highlights of the Playing it Close to Home concerts?
These performances are always enjoyable and I look forward to hearing what the Eric Stokes Song Contest winners have come up with. Plus it will be great to hear more of Nathan Hanson’s compositions- he's such an asset for the Twin Cities. In terms of my own pieces, a highlight will be hearing what on earth Zeitgeist do with a score that asks them to interpret "tree of the angry squirrel" and "traffic cone"!
When did you start creating music derived from walking, and where did the idea come from?
I've enjoyed walking all my life, and I love listening to the sounds around me as I go. But walking and music really connected for me about 15 years ago, when I started wandering through London wearing binaural microphones (small and discreet) and singing with the soundscape. Soon after that I began my longstanding project Shadow-walks, where other people take me on their special walks and later I "sing the walk." And now walking seems to pop up in most of my musical activities, including scores and solo performances.
What are some of the projects you are working on now that you’ve moved to New York?
I've been traveling a lot since I moved there- I'm just back from a tour in Australia- so I haven't had much time to really get settled yet. But I've started to make musical connections and have played a few gigs in the city. I hope to do a lot more. At the moment, I'm about to start working with recordings I made in Australia and trying to finish the piece I began in Montalvo. I'm also setting up a small solo tour in eastern US and Canada for March to promote my new Innova CDWalking.
Playing it Close to Home
Feb. 21-22, 7:30 p.m.
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200
Feb. 23, 2 p.m.
Roseville High School: 1240 County Road B-2 West, Roseville
$10 Friday and Sunday
$20 Saturday fundraiser performance
Saturday’s performance includes a special post-concert event with wine, hors d'oeuvres and conversation with Viv Corringham and Nathan Hanson.
RSS Feed
