string quartet, soundscape, and sculpture/video (by Lothar Osterburg) (2019)
Watch preview HERE
premiere: 12/5/2019 at Roulette, Brooklyn, NY
Momenta Quartet: Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Shiozaki, violin; Stephanie Griffin, viola; Michael Haas, cello
duration: 12′13″
program note
Babel celebrates New York’s constant influx of immigrants, the source of its life, beauty, and diverse culture. The soundscape features Brown’s recordings of Emma Lazarus’ poem from the Statue of Liberty read in numerous accents, while Osterburg’s sculpture is tiled with pages from books abandoned on the streets of Brooklyn, in countless languages.
The voices of Babel: Tarek Alnassar, Daraa, Syria; Dariima Batsaikan, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Edward Brown, b. Camden, Alabama; Penny Brown, b. Homestead, Florida; Michiko Baribeau, Japan; Oumayma Ben Khlifa, Hencha, Tunisia; Jean-Patrick Besingrad, France; Ettore Causa, Italy; Seungmin Cha, Korea; Ana Correa, Santiago, Chile; Walid Elhout, Gaza, Palestine; Samuel Espino, Phillipines; Nicole Franchy, Lima, Peru; Betty Hauck, Massachusetts; Maria Andrea Hunt, São Paolo, Brazil; Tony Kirk, Scotland; Alon Koppel, Israel; Radovan Kunić, Rijeka, Croatia; Bun Ching Lam, Macao; Issui Minegishi, Tokyo, Japan; Magid Mostafa, Ismailia, Egypt; Ruth Osterburg, Braunschweig, Germany; Tatjana Myoko Prittwitz von Gaffron, Germany; Tareq Salah, Hebron, Palestine; Majd Shalakti, Irbid, Jordan; Marlies and Hanna Schranz, Hamburg, Germany; Magdalena Sole, Spain and Switzerland; Edra Soto, b. Puerto Rico; Nikolina Stefanova, Rousse, Bulgaria; Lihie Talmor, Israel; Beatrice Wanjiku Keniag, Nairobi, Kenya.
Lothar Osterburg’s website:
https://lotharosterburgphotogravure.com/