Mud Oratorio by Alice Shields, at NYEMF June 14th

June 14th, 2016 at 12:30pm: concert presentation of The Mud Oratorio, a 51-minute computer piece for dance theater, with music and libretto by Alice Shields, presented by the 2016 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival at The Playhouse of the Abrons Art Center, 466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street), on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Mud Oratorio was originally commissioned by Dance Alloy of Pittsburgh and Frostburg State University in Maryland. I created the work around two Nature Conservancy swamps in Frostburg Maryland whose flora and fauna survived the ice age. My voice narrates, with bird and animal imitations by a local biologist, and sounds constructed by digital sampling and software synthesis. The choreographer in the 2003 premiere at Frostbug State University was Mark Taylor; the lighting designer was Barbara Thompson; the libretto is based on the book Stirring the Mud by Barbara Hurd. You can hear an excerpt of The Mud Oratorio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2siY21UPbE   On The Mud Oratorio:"mind-boggling art..."--- David Dishneau, Associated Press