On Thu., Nov. 4, right there in the local treasure of domesticated land that is Laguna Gloria, you can experience a sunset performance on the shore of Lake Austin – alongside Steve Parker’s newest sculpture, Foghorn Elegy.
Parker has created an outdoor composition for this array of foghorns and a listening tower, the sonically powerful sculptures crafted from salvaged marching-band instruments (sousaphones, trombones, euphoniums, and trumpets).
“The work is an 11-track audio soundscape that I recorded on brass instruments in my garage,” says the award-winning composer. “The tower, which echoes the antenna farm across the lagoon, functions as a framing device to facilitate deliberate listening and to also simulate the practice of ‘listening to the sea’ from a seashell.”
We’d also mention that Alexa Capareda, that sugar-powered noodle robot, will be dancing; which she will be; but then, Parker’s foghorn-forward finery is further abetted by many collaborators – Brent Baldwin, Josh Balleza, Cameron Beauchamp, Tara Bhattacharya, Alex Cruz, Verena Gaudy, Thor Harris, Mark McCoin, Pamela Martinez, and Martín Rodriguez – to conjure this unique evening of aural and kinetic wonderment.
This article appears in October 29 • 2021.