Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble Ambient Ecology Festival

Start: Saturday, June 14, 2025 5:30PM
End: Saturday, June 14, 2025 7:00PM

EDME’s Ambient Ecology Festival seeks to create a dialogue between music, nature, and human experience by presenting calming soundscapes within Maurie Jacobs Park. We will present three 90 minute-long shows, one each on May 31st, June 7th, and June 14th. 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 one of Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations, during which we will invite the audience to participate alongside the musicians. 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, especially as part of the Sonic Meditations. We will provide programs at each concert to help people learn more about the music, the park, and the Willamette River. The hope is for the Series to annually recur every spring. 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 styles. 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. One of our goals is to create a vibrant atmosphere, transforming Maurie Jacobs Park into a space where people can relax and enjoy curious musical experiences–a distinctive atmosphere that cannot be replicated in a concert hall, let alone through speakers or headphones. On Saturday, May 31 hear Eugene’s own Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble, a 13-member chamber ensemble, perform Sonic Meditation I by Pauline Oliveros, featuring audience participation; Lichen by Aphex Twin as arranged by Brandon Eder; Identity Pitches by Cory Arcangel and Stine Janvin; 52 Blue by Chin Ting Chan; Clouds by Hiroshi Yoshimura; Glaciermarks: Terrane by Cheryl Leonard; Plan and Elevation: V. The Beech Tree by Caroline Shaw; in god's childlike hands by Lauren Auder On Saturday, June 7, hear Sonic Meditation VIII by Pauline Oliveros performed by EDME and guest musicians with audience participation; Free Static (Eugene); Jennifer Wright (Portland); Luke Wyland (Portland) On Saturday, June 14, hear Sonic Meditation XIII by Pauline Oliveros performed by EDME and guest musicians with audience participation; Daniel Menche (Portland) Owen Atlansky (Eugene) Don Haugen (Eugene)