Join composer Lisa Bielawa as she unveils the second of three parts of her new, broadly participatory musical work Voters’ Broadcast in this virtual event hosted by University Musical Society President Matthew VanBesien, and co-presented by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Kaufman Music Center in New York.
Voters’ Broadcast is a 15-minute, broadly participatory musical performance for an unlimited number of voices and instruments made up of choral and instrumental ensembles, and Sing Leaders. The work is directed, conceived and composed by Rome Prize and American Academy of Arts & Letters Award-winning composer Lisa Bielawa, with text taken from celebrated artist Sheryl Oring’s ongoing project I Wish to Say.
I Wish to Say consists of performances in which Oring and a pool of typists work on vintage manual typewriters and invite the public to dictate postcards to the US President. In the current circumstances, Oring and the typists are holding Zoom sessions, during which participants dictate their messages to the next President. Launched in 2004, the project has garnered nearly 4,000 postcards to President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump, all of which have been mailed to the White House on behalf of the participant as part of the performance.
Bielawa’s mission with the work is to stimulate voter engagement, political awareness, and community participation in challenging lockdown conditions, through the act of giving voice to the concerns of fellow citizens during the lead-up to the 2020 Presidential election.
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Watch live below on Oct. 14 at 3pm
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