Unheard-of//Ensemble In Concert

Note: this event may be relocated to Jackson Auditorium if necessary to follow campus-wide COVID guidelines. Face masks are required for all attendees.

Fire Ecologies
Unheard-of performs Fire Ecologies, a fifty-five minute unique musical and visual experience that explores American landscapes through the lens of climate change. Composer Christopher Stark and video artist Zlatko Ćosić embarked on a journey across the United States capturing audio and video for this multimedia experience. The work incorporates field recordings of the 2020 California wildfires along with sonic and visual imagery from Chris's trip across Montana, Oregon, and California as well as parts of Colorado. Zlatko gathered footage from the American heartland surrounding Missouri as well as long form explorations of nature surrounding St. Louis.

Ford Fourqurean from Unheard-of gathered footage from New York and the Gowanus Canal with help from the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club and from the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. Throughout the 2021-22 season, Stark, Ćosić, and Unheard-of are working together to gather more sounds and footage to further develop the work as Unheard-of travels on tour across America. Fire Ecologies is supported by a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant. Unheard-of will open the performance with Corporate Responsibility Pledge by Doug Bielmeier with video art by Allison Tanenhaus and Rose 31 by Netherlands-based group No Plexus. Supported by the Performing Arts Fund Netherlands, Rose 31 explores the synesthetic evoking of a perfume review through effervescent visuals developed by the duo for Unheard-of.

Artist Bio

Ford Fourqurean (clarinet), Matheus Souza (violin), Issei Herr (cello), and Daniel Anastasio (piano) form the core of Unheard-of//Ensemble, a contemporary chamber ensemble dedicated to connecting communities across the United States through the development and performance of new music. Unheard-of is committed to the idea that new music belongs in every community, and implements this mission by performing in locations out of the reach of many new music organizations.

Unheard-of//Ensemble’s 2021-22 season travels across the Midwest, Southeast, Texas and their home state of New York. Unheard-of’s largest project this season is a fifty-five minute commission from Christopher Stark exploring climate crisis in America, supported by a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant with video projections by Zlatko Ćosić. Unheard-of is the Klingler Electro-Acoustic Residency ensemble at Bowling Green State University for the 2021-22 season with workshops and performances throughout the Fall and Spring. They are also performing and touring this season at West Virginia University, the Johnstone Fund for New Music (Columbus, OH), Miami University, Ohio University, Kent State University, Texas State University, Texas Lutheran University, San Antonio College, University of Texas– San Antonio, Versipel New Music, Southeastern Louisiana University, Troy University, Emory University, Chattanooga State Community College, University of Georgia, and University of Tennessee – Chattanooga.

Unheard-of has received support from the Johnstone Fund for New Music, Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Foundation, Tennessee Arts Commission, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Barlow Endowment, Alice M. Ditson Fund, Aaron Copland Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and New York Women Composers Organization. Unheard-of is a recipient of a Chamber Music AmericaEnsemble Forward Grant made possible with support of the New York Community Trust. Their debut album Unheard-of//Dialogues was released to critical acclaim, being called “a fantastic

debut by a group that has been doing more than their part to inject vitality into the new music scene for the last few years” (Jeremy Shatan, An Earful). The album’s eclectic repertoire has garnered the attention of critics from ArtsATL (“Powerfully evocative”), Steve Smith of National Sawdust Log (“scintillating and evocative”), and Creative Loafing Atlanta (“mellifluous magic”).

For additional information and media, please visit www.unheard-ofensemble.com.