Our House is On Fire
Free (Free)
Quinn Patrick Ankrum, mezzo-soprano
Elizabeth Avery, piano & live electronics
Joel Burcham, tenor & electric guitar
Felicia Zamora, spoken word
Ioannis Andriotis – Earth Elements (world premiere)
Lisa Neher – No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us (world premiere)
Poetry by Felicia Zamora & Craig Santos Perez
Digital process design by Jonah Elrod
An interdisciplinary team of composers, poets, performers, and sound designers from across the U.S. present OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, a livestreamed concert of world premieres urging immediate action to address the global climate crisis.
The concert features the world premiere of No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us, a major song cycle commissioned by mezzo-soprano Quinn Patrick Ankrum (OH) and pianist Elizabeth Avery (OK) and written by award-winning composer Lisa Neher (OR) with poetry by Felicia Zamora (OH) and Craig Santos Perez (HI). The piece speaks to the gravity of global climate change with unflinching clarity and directness, holding space for the mourning, fear, and anger we experience in the face of this catastrophe and advocating immediate action. The piece experiments with technology to allows for collaboration without burning fossil fuels by flying across the country. Ankrum and Zamora recorded all of the vocal parts first in small pieces. These vocal events were programmed into software by the project’s digital process creator Jonah Elrod and will be controlled during the live performance by Avery using a foot pedal.
The concert also features the world premiere of Earth Elements by Ioannis Andriotis (OK), commissioned by Avery and tenor Joel Burcham (OK), for piano, vocals, electric guitar, percussion, and live electronics. The piece includes improvisatory sections and real-time processing in which the electronics follow the performer. Using concrete sounds such as water and voices as source material, the music reflects on the climate crisis through the elements of water, air, fire, and earth.
The concert will take place at 8:30pm Eastern / 7:30pm Central / 5:30pm Pacific.
The event is available for free. It will be livestreamed from University of Oklahoma's Pitman Recital Hall, & simulcast to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Watson Recital Hall, Cincinnati, OH. This project was made possible by funding from the University of Oklahoma Faculty Senate and the University of Cincinnati Office of the Vice President for Research.
Attending in person: Both the in-person performance and simulcast are free to attend.
The in-person performance will take place at:
The University of Oklahoma
Pitman Recital Hall
500 W Boyd St
Norman, OK 73019
The in-person simulcast will take place at:
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Watson Recital Hall
290 CCM Blvd
Cincinnati, OH 45221