On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info here - laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

SOUND WINDOWS:
Renowned audio explorers from around the world share highlights from their personal field recording libraries and reflect on why these evocative sonic snapshots resonate with them.

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

Jeremiah Chiu - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

Lawrence English - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

Michael Pisaro-Liu - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

George Jensen - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

Angélica Negrón - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

Victoria Keddie - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

Lia Kohl - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams has dedicated his life to creating music that moves listeners to slow down and become more attuned to nature. By reflecting the elemental, awe-inspiring energy of Earth's ecosystem, his music encourages us to safeguard the environment by reminding us of our integral role within it.

For Noon to Midnight Radio, we invited John Luther Adams to reflect on how nature has directly shaped the music he creates and the manner in which he navigates the planet. We hope you enjoy these intimate reflections and remember there is always time to slow down and listen to what's around you.

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: Listening with John Luther Adams - All My Life

N2M Radio: Listening with John Luther Adams - Wind Harp

N2M Radio: Listening with John Luther Adams - Wood Thrush

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Ka Baird's Mobile Microphone started as a video series in 2022 that explores dynamic methods of capturing ambient sounds out in the world. Using the microphone as an instrument itself (a sound shaper as well as an amplifier), the capturer of sound is as dynamic as the captured. This project explores environments through a variety of mobile microphones- shotgun, dynamic, hydrophones as well as electromagnetic sensing.  

Ka Baird will be leading a series of Mobile Microphone tours throughout Walt Disney Concert Hall during Noon to Midnight. These tours will allow attendees to participate in focused real-time listening to the sounds unfolding all around as captured by Ka’s active microphone. Consider it a field recording of field recordings. 

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: Ka Baird - Mobile Microphone

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Raven Chacon is a cross-disciplinary artist and music composer of Diné heritage. The MacArthur Genius and Pulitzer Prize-winner, was raised in Fort Defiance, Arizona within the Navajo Nation and has long engaged in sonic experimentation that amplifies the energy of his environment while channeling deep intention. In this audio portrait, Chacon shares how field recordings have served as a foundational element in his practice. Listen as he charts the speed of places, navigates the spaces between silence and noise, and meditates on the power of sound.

Chacon's sound and film triptych "Three Songs" and his chamber piece "Horse Notations" will be featured on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage as part of the Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings programming. Visit spiderwebsinthesky.com to discover more about Raven's work.

"We are not outside of our field recordings." - Raven Chacon

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: Raven Chacon - Amplifying the Earth

Myke Dodge Weiskopf - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

Katherine Balch - N2M Radio: Sound Windows

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

To get on the field recording wavelength, we invited Mike Harding of Touch Records to comment on a memorable soundscape and share why it moves him. Here are some words from Mike about the audio offering...

Field recordings, audio recordings made outside a studio, were originally used at sites and locations for anthropological, scientific, audio effects for radio and film and other specific uses, and have evolved now to include a temporal and ecological dimension.

Technological developments have changed the way artists can approach this field and soundscapes can occupy many hours, or even days if used in a sound installation and played back through multiple channels. The ecological aspect highlights what we are losing and colours the recordings with a bitter sadness in the process and result.

All this allows artists to explore aspects of this field which scientists were either disinterested in or unable to do, and this is what makes field recordings such an exciting art form to witness.

I chose Chris Watson’s ‘Embleton Rookery’ from his first solo album ’Stepping into the Dark’ (Touch, 1996) because the piece embraces all these aspects. Highly evocative, a lost location and perfectly balanced and captures what Chris Watson calls ‘The Spirit of a Place’.

- Mike Harding, September 2024 (touch33.net)

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: A Field Recording Reflection by Mike Harding with Chris Watson

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Musician and soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause has changed the way we listen to the world. Krause launched his musical career in the 1960s in a studio cocoon, pioneering the use of synthesizers in rock music alongside his musical  partner Paul Beaver. Eventually, the creative trajectory of their band Beaver & Krause called for broader sound sources and Bernie's journey into field recording began. 

Nature pulled Krause deeper into its fold and he shifted his focus from experimental rock pursuits to the field of acoustic ecology, eventually developing his Niche Hypothesis and revealing the coordinated musicality of nonhuman organisms through his concept of biophony – the highly evolved voice of the natural world. Bernie has spent his career illustrating that we are not apart from nature and listening deeply might be our best hope for healing the planet. 

From wolf whispers to silenced meadows, this Noon to Midnight Radio episode, offers a portrait of Bernie's dedication to soundscape ecology and encourages us to safeguard wild spaces. Please visit wildsanctuary.com to discover more about Bernie's vital work.

The program features the following recordings courtesy of Bernie Krause:
- The Great Animal Orchestra (Start and End of the piece)
- Beaver & Krause : Bright Shadows
- Beaver & Krause: And There Was Morning
- Gentle Ocean
- Wild Sanctuary: Amazon Days/ Amazon Nights
- Algonquin Wolves
- Sugar Loaf State Park Excerpt

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: Bernie Krause - A Life Spent Listening

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Annea Lockwood has been enchanted by water in motion ever since she can remember. The New Zealand native spent much of her youth rambling along the wild banks of the Waimakariri River, a braided system whose tactile flowing force gave rise to endlessly exciting audible phenomena while proving a gravitational pull to Annea. 

These encounters were an early revelation about sound's power to more deeply connect us to the dynamic energy of nature and our interconnectivity to all the lifeforms within it. The river's teachings expanded into Annea's compositional practice and whether she was transplanting a piano to a garden or channeling a tiger's deep purring into an evocative sound collage, Lockwood's creative vision has remained grounded in a deep dedication to listening with wide open ears that aren't afraid to flow where nature guides her.

This audio portrait of Lockwood comes ahead of her appearance at LA Phil's Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings where she will lead a performance of her piece "Jitterbug" alongside a playback of her sound composition "Buoyant." Please visit annealockwood.com to flow into further explorations of Annea's work.

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: Annea Lockwood - Listening With Nature

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Berlin-based composer and field recordist KMRU refers to himself as a "sound person." This holistic concept goes beyond occupation to represent his profound connection to the audible world. In Swahili, the language most often heard in KMRU's hometown of Nairobi, the word for "ear" is nearly identical to the word for "listen" and that for "listening." Sound is woven into the fabric of being and the building of bonds. KMRU activates a sort of listening that goes goes beyond mere physicality into a form of mutual exchange with the communities who appear in and encounter his work. With an alchemical touch he coaxes sounds out of often overlooked spaces and shapes them into compositions that transform our way of hearing. Enjoy this audio offering and please visit kmru.info to discover more of his work.

Credits:
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

N2M Radio: KMRU - Extending the Ear

On November 16, 2024, the LA Phil presents Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings, a 12-hour new music marathon at Walt Disney Concert Hall curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and based around the theme of field recordings. More info at laphil.com/n2m. To expand on the themes of the festival, LA Phil Insight presents a series of audio programs further exploring the field recordings theme.

Featured Artists (in order of appearance):
Annea Lockwood
Patrick Shiroishi
Bernie Krause
Victoria Keddie
John Luther Adams
Raven Chacon
Vica Pacheco
KMRU
Mike Harding with Chris Watson
Ka Baird
Lawrence English

Credits:
Dr. Yewande Pearse - Host
Matteah Baim - Producer, sound designer, editor, mixer
Mark “Frosty” McNeill - Producer
Julia Ward - Executive Producer

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. Please visit laphil.com/insight to discover how we are expanding on what’s happening on our stages for deeper explorations.

Noon to Midnight: Field Recordings Radio (Full Program)

Los Angeles based arts organization GYOPO and LA Phil Insight premiere the new commissioned track Recovering / 친환경 by Incheon based electronic music producer KIRARA. This piece was produced for GYOPO Diasporic Refractions, a programmatic collaboration between GYOPO and LA Phil Insight featuring a series of installations, a symposium and performances presented in conjunction with the LA Phil Seoul Fest.

Recovering / 친환경
Composed, Arranged & Mixed by KIRARA
Lyrics by summersnow
Vocal Performed & Recorded by summersnow
Mastered by KIRARA
Commissioned by GYOPO and LA Phil Insight for Diasporic Refractions
LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen

‘친환경‘ 은 소리로 이루어진 스페이스 오페라로, 덥스텝, 하우스, 앰비언트 등의 모던한 전자음악 장르에서 영감받아 작업되었습니다. 이 음악은 세 개의 파트로 나누어져 있으며, 청자는 각 악장을 따로 들을 수도 있고, 모든 악장을 이어 들으며 작곡자가 의도한 이야기를 유추할 수도 있습니다. 1악장에서는 어떤 ‘이상하지만 조화로운’ 세상이 제시됩니다. 2악장에서 그 세상은 외부로부터 공격을 받으며 무너지고 회복하기를 반복합니다. 3악장에서 이제 그 세상은 공격을 받아도 끄떡 없는 단단한 세상으로 거듭나게 됩니다. 저는 환경과 친하고 싶었던 사람이었던 것 같습니다. 환경과 친하고 싶었던 저를 위로하기 위해 이 음악을 만들었습니다. 이 위로가 제가 아닌 다른 누군가에게도 가 닿는다면 저에게 큰 기쁨일 것 같습니다.

1

I’ve landed on a planet. 
Feels like I found the right one.

I know it sounds strange, but it feels like I’ve been here before.
A long, long time ago.

I can actually breathe without the suit.
Can you believe that?
And This might sound crazy,
but— Do you think, do you think this could be Earth?

2

Others just showed up—and they’re heavily armed.
I tried to get closer, but… something’s really wrong here. 
I don’t know what they’re trying to do.
“Are they even planning to go to war?
I’m really scared.                                                            
This might be my last message. Please, take care.

Good news. The aliens here… they saved me. 
For the first time, I feel like I might actually see you again.
I’m going to try talking to them more tomorrow 
Like… how are you all so different? Seriously—what are you?  
They actually remind me more of my cat at home.
Anyway—are you okay? Do you hear me?
I’ll see you soon. I promise.

3

같은 음 같은 선 
자라나지 않는 곳
붕괴와 교란은
변이들의 탓인가
우연과 운명은
가장 자연스러운
시간의 흐름에
존재하는 것일 뿐 

Take care.

KIRARA - Recovering / 친환경

The LA Phil Insight initiative takes the work on our stages as a starting point for exploration.

Bringing together a diverse range of guest curators, artists, and partner organizations with intellectually curious audiences, our Insight efforts dig into festival and project themes, uncovering their many meanings with a sense of thoughtfulness and play.

Insight activities are typically offered in conjunction with festivals, special projects, and The Ford summer season. They take a variety of forms, including commissioned installations, panel discussions, print publications, live podcast recordings, artist residencies, multidisciplinary performances, film screenings, and participatory activities in historic sites, nightclubs, and even roller rinks.

LA Phil Insight is generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen.

LA Phil Insight

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