Ritual Schizophonia - Gesture shapes both sound and meaning, as revealed in this experimental program for solo harp. From the avant-garde reimagining of a Greek myth to a visceral manifestation of grief, these diverse works are connected by their ceremonial treatment of sound. The movements of the hands at the strings and the feet at the pedals become a choreography of sonic obfuscation, an expressive ritual for exploring meaning in an atmosphere that synthesizes the visual and the sonic.
Melissa Achten
Melissa Achten is a Los Angeles based harpist and interdisciplinary artist focused on immersive musical ritual in contemporary and experimental performance.
As a soloist and collaborator, she utilizes the harp as a divining tool for channeling work that is intimate, diaristic, and cathartic. Her performance practice explores the nuances of surrealism, fantasy, psychology, and the occult, allowing her to create an atmosphere that blurs the relationship between bodies, instruments, and sound in order to reveal that which is unseen and inaccessible. The future-oriented gaze of her work organically pushes the boundaries of technique while untangling the harp from parochial conventions.
Melissa is an alumna of McGill University in Montreal, QC (MMus) and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA (BMus). Upcoming projects include a residency with the Black House Collective and the Bang on a Can summer institute, as well as the release of her first full length album at the end of the year.
Cost: $16
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
Bruce Ackley and Eugene Chadbourne