Sante Fe Presentation: Messiaen’s Symphonic Work and the Land
On Tuesday, June 28, Photographer Deborah O’Grady and I will be presenting our work on Messiaen’s piece, From the Canyons to the Stars at the 2016 Jung Society for Scholarly Studies Conference, Earth/Psyche: Foregrounding Earth’s Relations to Psyche (Sunday evening, June 26-Wednesday evening, June 29, 2016).
Deborah was commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony to create a multimedia performance to this Bicentennial creation of Messiaen, which was inspired by Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. Her work provides a ritual entry into the soundscape of these desert landscapes, emphasizing man’s participation in them. A review of the Los Angeles performance is in this week’s New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/22/messiaens-canyons-and-abrahamsens-let-me-tell-you
My talk will amplify the consciousness Messiaen affords through his masterpiece, a consciousness which appears similar to that of the native Southern Paiute, a consciousness that is imperative that we develop if we are to live in balance with the earth.
We will send more information as we have it, but consider attending the conference which will be held at the La Fonda Hotel on the Plaza in Sante Fe, New Mexico. For more information and registration, contact JSSS.