EDME’s Ambient Ecology Festival seeks to create a dialogue between music, nature, and human experience by presenting curious soundscapes within Maurie Jacobs Park. We will present three 90 minute-long shows, one each on May 30th, June 6th, and June 13th. Works by the deeply influential 20th century composer Pauline Oliveros will be a throughline for all three shows. Oliveros’ concept of Deep Listening serves as inspiration for this project. According to Oliveros, “Deep Listening explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the conscious nature of listening. The practice includes bodywork, sonic meditations, and interactive performance, as well as listening to the sounds of daily life, nature, one’s own thoughts, imagination, and dreams. It cultivates a heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration, playfulness, and other creative skills vital to personal and community growth.”

Each concert in the series will open with Oliveros’ Sonic Meditation XIX, and the audience will be invited to participate alongside the musicians. The score for the work will be in the program and read aloud.

With this series we hope to introduce intentional audience members and passers-by both to unique musical styles outside a traditional concert hall, including an array of composers and performers from diverse backgrounds, such as non-white, LGBTQ, and female-identifying individuals. Performing at Maurie Jacobs near the Willamette River, we invite people to listen to both the music and the environment it is placed in, including its anthropocentric setting. We hope people will hum, sing, move, or otherwise participate with the music. We will provide programs at each concert to help people learn more about the music. EDME’s Ambient Ecology series recurs each spring, like the blossoming of cherry trees and the arrival of the green herons.

The Ambient Ecology Series seeks to create a cultural exchange through music that inspires dialogue and wonder. These qualities are fundamental to experimental music. We hope that stumbling into the outer edges of musical performance -- such as ambient, drone, and contemporary classical -- on a Saturday afternoon in the park will introduce passers-by to new musical passions. Folks who already know these genres will have the rare treat of hearing them performed live amidst the beauty of one of Eugene’s loveliest parks. We want to create a distinctive atmosphere that cannot be replicated in a concert hall, let alone through speakers or headphones.

On Saturday, May 30 hear Eugene’s own Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble, a 13-member chamber ensemble, perform
Sonic Meditation XIX by Pauline Oliveros, featuring audience participation
Avril 14th by Aphex Twin as arranged by Ellie Jakes
Earth Is A Breathing Valley by Matti Weisberg
Un Lenguaje Hecho De Células, Movement 2 by Luis Fernando Amaya
Black Snow, Dark Ocean by Nancy Ives
Juno After Harold Budd by Adrian Cervantes Mendez
As Distance Cries by Jayne Cronin
3 Movements by Gia Margaret as arranged by JP Lempke
Subwoofer Lullaby by C418 as arranged by Ellie Jakes

On Saturday, June 6, hear
K O T A (Eugene) Bass trombone and electronics plainchant, oblique mystique extended technique, parcel post-minimalism
Josh Hydeman (Portland) Conservationist, photographer, bat fan, and heavy noise artist bringing serious drone to the park
New Agency (Eugene) Post-rhythm, pre-apocalypse sound collage

On Saturday, June 14, hear
Gabie Strong (LA) an interdisciplinary artist working in a post-studio practice, exploring spatial constructions of drone and decay as a means to improvise new arrangements of self-reflexive meaning
D.S.P. Mystic (Portland) chill mutant hyper-cube soundtraxxx from the stars; mudd duck lifestyle
JEC (Eugene) bass player, campfire chord guitar player, ambient revisionist

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