the direction of attention

about

For the past several years, Fifth House Ensemble has delved into the fascinating world of Deep Listening, pioneered by Pauline Oliveros. What began as a journey to co-create beautiful and satisfying musical experiences with audiences and communities of all types transformed into an artistic practice that invites play, improvisation, light-heartedness, and deeply moving, empathic creativity all at once. 

Fifth House Ensemble will premiere this program during its 22-23 season with a new commission and world premiere by Pamela Z, in addition to text scores by Oliveros and members of the ensemble. Functioning as a collective of sonic tour guides, members of the ensemble transport the audience through the Movement, Sounding, and Dreaming modalities of Deep Listening. Each performance is as unique as the individuals in the space, affirming every human’s innate artistry by making contributions that are responsive to the moment. 

Duration: 60 minutes (no intermission) 

collaborators

Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and wireless MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. In addition to her solo work, she has been commissioned to compose scores for dance, theatre, film, and chamber ensembles including Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, the Bang on a Can All Stars, Ethel, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Her interdisciplinary performance works have been presented at venues including The Kitchen (NY), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF), REDCAT (LA), and MCA (Chicago), and her installations have been presented at such exhibition spaces as the Whitney (NY), the Diözesanmuseum (Cologne), and the Krannert (IL). Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can (New York), Interlink (Japan), Other Minds (San Francisco), La Biennale di Venezia (Italy), Dak’Art (Sénégal) and Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal, Germany). She’s a recipient of numerous awards including the Rome Prize, United States Artists, a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation residency, the Guggenheim, the Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, Herb Alpert Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention, and the NEA Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder. www.pamelaz.com