In Monday’s (10/21) San Jose Mercury-News, Richard Scheinin writes about Crissy Broadcast, a work for 800 singers and instrumentalists by Lisa Bielawa, set for its U.S. premiere this weekend at San Francisco’s Crissy Field. “Bielawa has composed her 50-minute piece for an army: 14 ensembles, including choruses, bands, orchestras, electric guitarists with battery-pack amps, even a group of traditional Chinese instrumentalists. Against the backdrop of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, it will fan out across 100 acres on the San Francisco Bay shoreline, as the musicians intersect with bicyclists, skaters, joggers and families with picnics. A San Francisco native who has made her career in New York, Bielawa, 45, expects ‘an unbelievable outpouring of joy from the musicians, from everyone,’ as her ‘spatial symphony’ transforms the park.… Her aims include breaking down walls between performers and audience (listeners get to roam among the musicians); between professional and amateur musicians (both will participate); and between music and the environment (she has matched trombone and tuba pitches to those of foghorns on the bay). With a $200,000 budget, most of it from foundations committed to the arts, the project has been several years in the making.” The project was covered in Symphony’s Spring 2013 issue.
Posted October 22, 2013
