[Leonardo/ISAST Network] Ear to the Earth: A Festival of Music, Sound and Ecology

[Leonardo/ISAST]

Leonardo co-presents
EAR TO THE EARTH: A Festival of Music, Sound and Ecology
October 6-14, 2006
New York, NY

Featuring sound work by Alvin Curran, Steven Feld, Luc Ferrari, Joan 
La Barbara, Annea Lockwood, Laurie Spiegel, Morton Subotnick, 
Hildegard Westerkamp, Iannis Xenakis, and many others.

How can sound help us better understand our environment and engage in 
today's critical ecological issues? From October 6-14, 2006, Ear to 
the Earth - a festival conceived and organized by Electronic Music 
Foundation - will kick up the volume of the earth's sonic life with 
concerts, installations, public art, and panel discussions that 
explore our interaction with natural and man-made worlds through 
sound.  For a week, an international team of sound artists, 
environmentalists, scientists and educators will convene in downtown 
venues including the World Financial Center, Judson Church and 
3-Legged Dog Arts & Technology Center (3LD), to present and discuss a 
wide and compelling body of works based on the sounds and images of 
the environment, encouraging people to "listen to our world."

The festival highlight is Suspended Sounds, an immersive, 3D sound 
environment giving voice to a multitude of endangered - or already 
extinct - birds, and orchestrated by composers Alvin Curran, Joan La 
Barbara, David Monacchi, and Morton Subotnick, among others.  Designed 
by Alban Bassuet from Arup Acoustics, a global leader in architectural 
acoustics, Suspended Sounds will be staged at 3LD on Friday, October 
13 (7, 8, 9 and 10pm) and Saturday, October 14 (7, 8, 9 and 10pm).

Also bringing awareness to the declining population of the earth's 
vast array of species is Calls of the Wild, a sound installation to 
take place in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center and 
running October 9-13, 11am-3pm.

Other festival highlights include a series of daily concerts, each 
focusing on a different, creative approach to the sounds of our 
environment. Concerts are scheduled at 3LD (October 7, 8, 12, 13) and 
Judson Church (October 9, 10, 11); show time is 8pm; admission fee or 
suggested donation is $10.

Water and Ice, scheduled at 3LD (October 7-14), presents five sound 
and visual installations dealing with various ecological and social 
issues around these vital elements.

Another festival group show, also scheduled at 3LD (October 7-14), is 
The State of the City, presenting three different mappings of New York 
City in sound. In conjunction with this exhibition, the panel 
discussion, Sound Art and Preservation (Saturday, October 14, 3-5pm) 
will bring together artists and scientists to focus on how sound art 
can help in preservation efforts.

The festival will launch with an opening reception at 3LD (October 6, 
7-10pm).

Programmed by a team of curators from the arts, science and academia, 
Ear to the Earth is organized by Electronic Music Foundation, in 
partnership with the UNESCO DigiArts Portal, New York City Audubon, 
New York University's Music Technology Program, Arctic Soundscapes 
Project, New York Society for Acoustic Ecology, The Acoustic Ecology 
Institute, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and Leonardo/ISAST.

For more information on the festival, visit:
www.eartotheearth.com