The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music Series Presents Brian Harnetty: Shawnee, Ohio

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. at Macalester College, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music Series presents Brian Harnetty's Shawnee, Ohio.

A group of eleven portraits of people and songs from Appalachian Ohio chronicles their history with energy and extraction, from 19th century coal mining to fracking today. "Harnetty brings gem recordings up out of the basement and into the light...the resulting music isn't about stepping back into the past, but rather experiencing the past and the present simultaneously in a way that is instructive" (New Music Box). Performed with sampled archives, field recordings and live musicians, Shawnee, Ohio critically engages ecology, energy, place and personal history to ask: What are the sounds of mining? Of fracking? Of a town fighting to survive after a century of economic decline and environmental degradation?

Harnetty derives his compositional material from the sounds of production and Appalachian town life. These sounds are recorded as compositional material reflecting layers of history and memory in Appalachian Ohio. Shawnee's history includes coal, gas and clay extraction, and the formation of early labor unions. The town's downturn and partial restoration act as an ethos of the struggles and hopes of the larger region, now immersed in a controversial fracking boom. Shawnee, Ohio considers these histories, evokes place through sound, and listens to the present alongside traces of the past.

Harnetty explains, "Shawnee, Ohio is centered on 11 portraits, including women and men across generations. These residents of a small town recount their lives, work, and deeds-talking and singing of coal, fracking, social life and hope amid our contested energy landscape. The SPCO Liquid Music Series and its attentive and adventurous audience are perfect for sharing these stories. It is an honor to perform this piece for Liquid Music, to open a conversation about these issues and to be among so many other visionary artists."

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Brian Harnetty, piano, electronics

Aaron Michael Butler, vibraphone

Liz Fisher, violin

Jocelyn Hach, viola

Katie Porter, bass clarinet

Anna Roberts-Gevalt, banjo, violin

Jane Van Voorhis, cello

Michael Rene Torres, saxophone

CONCERT DATE AND LOCATION:

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Doors at 7:00pm | Music at 7:30pm

Mairs Hall at Macalester College, Saint Paul

Post-show conversation led by Macalester College Professor of Music Mark Mazullo

TICKETS: $20 ($16 for SPCO/Liquid Music subscribers)

liquidmusicseries.org | 651.291.1144

RELATED EVENT

Shawnee, Ohio Gallery Installation

Visual and sound art by Brian Harnetty

Hamlin Creative Space, Weitz Center for Creativity, Carleton College

Opening reception February 24, 2018; installation running through March 23, 2018

ABOUT LIQUID MUSIC:
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music Series, named "Best of Classical" by The New York Times, develops innovative new projects with iconoclastic artists in unique presentation formats. Liquid Music performances invite adventurous audiences to discover the new and the fascinating within the flourishing landscape of contemporary chamber music.

ABOUT THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA:
Renowned for its artistic excellence, remarkable versatility of musical styles and adventurous programming, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. Entering its 59th season in September, the SPCO has recently undergone transformational change with the opening of its new home, the Ordway Concert Hall, the addition of a new generation of players, and significant changes in its artistic vision. The SPCO is primarily an unconducted ensemble that performs a broad range of repertoire from Baroque to new music and works in close collaboration with a diverse series of artistic partners, including British Baroque specialist Jonathan Cohen, American pianist Jeremy Denk, Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst, Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Past Artistic Partners include Roberto Abbado, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Joshua Bell, Douglas Boyd, Nicholas McGegan, Stephen Prutsman, Dawn Upshaw and Christian Zacharias.

The virtuoso musicians of the SPCO present more than 130 concerts and educational programs in the Twin Cities each year. The orchestra also reaches more than 250,000 listeners annually through its free online Concert Library, and has recently begun offering both live and on-demand videos of concerts that can be viewed anytime, anywhere, on any device, completely free of charge. The SPCO is regularly heard on public radio programs that reach more than 2 million listeners each week on over 300 stations. Additionally, the SPCO has released 67 recordings, commissioned 148 new works, and tours nationally and internationally, including performances in premier venues in Europe, Asia and South America.

The SPCO is nationally recognized for its commitment to broad community accessibility, its innovative audience outreach efforts, and its educational and family programming. Regular subscription series are performed in a variety of different venues across the Twin Cities metropolitan area each season, a unique commitment to geographic accessibility for a major orchestra. The SPCO offers the most affordable tickets of any major orchestra in the United States, with over 50 percent of tickets available for $15 or less, and has expanded accessibility even further by offering free tickets for children and students starting in the 2016.17 season as a part of the New Generation Initiative. The orchestra also offers an innovative ticket membership model in which members pay $7 per month to attend unlimited concerts. The SPCO's award-winning CONNECT education program reaches over 5,000 students and teachers annually in 12 Minneapolis and Saint Paul public schools, and its Target® Free Family Music program provides engaging and educational experiences for thousands of Twin Cities children and families each year. The SPCO's Liquid Music Series (named "Best of Classical" by The New York Times) develops innovative new projects with iconoclastic artists in unique presentation formats and invites adventurous audiences to discover the new and the fascinating within the flourishing landscape of contemporary chamber music.

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