Who: Lisa Bielawa, Gregory Purnhagen, John Glover, Natalie Mallis, Edith Knight Magak, Benjamin Barham-Weise, Federico Ramirez, Seth Brenzel, Elizandro Garcia Montoya, Deborah Meadows
What: Livestreamed two-night concert and discussion
Where: Kaufman Music Center and Facebook
When: Thursday, August 20, and Friday, August 21, free with RSVP, 2:00
Why: Since April 9, composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa has been presenting Broadcast from Home, a weekly series in which she creates a communal work based on testimonies about the coronavirus pandemic sent to her from the public, setting the text to music played by her, special guests, and the public as well. In such chapters as ”After-Lives,” ”Where Is Everybody?,” “The City Is Not the Same,” and ”The New Abnormal,” each of which can be individually heard here, she has collaborated with dozens of other musicians and sing coleader Gregory Purnhagen. “Broadcast from Home arose organically out of an unprecedented moment: worldwide stay-at-home orders in response to a global pandemic, and the universal feelings of shock, grief, disorientation, hope, and fear that overtook us as we navigated our strange new isolation, and then the surge of calls for justice in the midst of it all,” Bielawa said in a statement. “I am so grateful to the hundreds of people, sheltering in place from NYC to Nairobi to Melbourne to Rio de Janiero, who shared their personal experiences and raised their singing voices from their own homes to build this work with me. It stands as a document of the crisis through the lens of people’s most private experiences. Ironically, I have never felt more connected to people through my work than I did through this period of utter isolation. I’ve learned how transformative radical listening can be.”

On August 20 and 21, the cycle will be streamed in its entirety for the first time by Kaufman Music Center, along with live discussions between Rome Prize winner Bielawa and many contributors from around the world, moderated by John Glover. August 20 will feature Natalie Mallis, Edith Knight Magak, Benjamin Barham-Weise, and Federico Ramirez, while Seth Brenzel, Elizandro Garcia Montoya, Deborah Meadows, and Purnhagen will participate on August 21. Following the two-night event, Bielawa will take a break from Broadcast from Home and move on to Voters’ Broadcast, which looks at the current presidential campaign and upcoming election. “The organic moment of a monolithic, shared reality has begun to transform and fragment, as different parts of the world grapple and react,” she explained. ”Testimony submissions are slowing as people begin to take up the challenging work of reengaging with the world. It feels like the right moment for me to step back and observe, and rest. But I will continue to communicate with this community as we move into this new phase.”