I got to share five things with magazine OutsideLeft -- not a best-of list, but things that inspire me. I talk about Radiooooo, Niki and Nat Segnit, Hanif Abdurraqib (and Two Dollar Radio), Robert Lax, and my father's workbench. I hope you enjoy it and have a good day!
https://outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=2516
Words and Silences #5 for Modern Composition in The Wire
It is so nice to see Words and Silences be in The Wire Magazine’s top ten Modern Composition best-of list for 2022. And such good, company, too!
Watch: Live Solo Performances 2013-22
Watch a playlist of my solo piano performances over the past decade. This includes two tracks from The Star-Faced One (from the Sun Ra/El Saturn Archives), “Jim” from Shawnee, Ohio, a suite of pieces from Many Hands, and three tracks from Words and Silences.
Words and Silences is MOJO's #2 Underground Album of the Year
I’m so happy for Words and Silences to be MOJO’s #2 Underground Album of the Year! What a great honor!
"Words and Silences" Premiere November 9
We are a little under a week away from premiering "Words and Silences" at the Wexner Center for the Arts -- next Wednesday, November 9, at 8:00pm. I hope you can come hear/see the show! Tickets are on sale below.
I'm so lucky to have all of the original performers from the album joining me, including Katie Porter (bass clarinet), Jeremy Woodruff (flute, alto sax), Phil Rodriguez (trumpet), and William Lang (trombone).
Purchase tickets here.
Photo: Kevin Davison
"5 Questions" for I Care If You Listen (ICIYL)
I recently corresponded with Jacob Kopcienski about Words and Silences for I Care if You Listen (.com)
I really appreciated his questions, and this article was an opportunity to provide more context for the project.
Read the article here.
New Reviews for "Words and Silences" in the Wire, Aquarium Drunkard, Allmusic, and A Closer Listen
Read new reviews from The Wire, Aquarium Drunkard, Allmusic, and A Closer Listen here.
Words and Silences Out Today: Read New Newsletter and Watch a Live Performance
Words and Silences is out today! Listen to and buy both digital and physical items (CDs, chapbook) at Bandcamp. Plus, it's a "Bandcamp Friday," which means that Bandcamp waives their cut.
You can read and sign up for the newsletter here.
And finally, watch the above video for a live solo performance at Merton’s hermitage. You can watch and listen to a storm come in halfway through the recording.
New Newsletter for September 2022
The CDs and chapbooks just arrived, and you can read about them, listen to a new track, and pre-order them ahead of the October 7 release date.
Listen to and read about "Who Is This I?" from Words and Silences
Listen to a new track from Words and Silences called "Who Is This I?" and then read an excerpt from an essay I wrote about it and other recordings from the album, called "Thinking Out Loud In a Hermitage." You can pre-order the album on Bandcamp here.
Words and Silences now available for pre-order on bandcamp
The official release date for Words and Silences is October 7, and you can pre-order the album now. It will be available as a digital download and as a 2-CD set. There is also a limited edition letterpress chapbook that includes the full transcription from Thomas Merton’s hermitage tapes used for the album, as well as a long form essay describing the project and my process of making the album. You can pre-order everything here, on Bandcamp.
Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme: Society of Fellows
I am happy to announce that I will be a part of the 2022-23 cohort of the Society of Fellows for the Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme at Ohio State University. I’m particularly excited because the theme this year is “Archival Imaginations,” and it will also coincide with a premiere performance of my latest project, Words and Silences, at the Wexner Center for the Arts this fall. I am so looking forward to learning from this cohort, and returning to OSU, where I received my undergrad degree in music, over 25 years ago! You can read more about the fellows here.
Interior of Thomas Merton’s hermitage. Photo courtesy of Kevin Davison.
New Newsletter - Visiting Merton's Hermitage
If you would like to read and learn about my recent trip to Thomas Merton’s hermitage to film, record, and perform, feel free to read the newsletter here. And, please do sign up for future news and events — this will be a busy year, and it would be so wonderful to have you along for the ride!
Latest Newsletter Out Now: 2021 In Review
My latest newsletter is out now, which includes a year in review for 2021: exhibitions, performances, conversations, writings, interviews, and more. Please do sign up to receive more updates and stories in 2022. It would be great to have you along! You can find the newsletter here.
"Sense of Place" Fieldbook with the Dublin Arts Council
A few months ago, the Dublin Arts Council asked me to visit all of their 24 public art works and write responses to them focusing on listening and sound. It was a pleasure, and now there is a Fieldbook designed for children (and adults) to explore the works. I’m happy to be a part of it, and am thankful that the Council was so open to the crazy idea of listening to sculptures and to places!
You can read more and download the Fieldbook here.
"Many Hands - The Complete Collection" Out On Bandcamp Now
Here is a new, complete collection of MANY HANDS on Bandcamp — remastered (thanks to Secret Studio), reordered, renamed, and with new tracks — exploring LANDSCAPES and LABOR in Appalachian Ohio. The old phrase, “many hands make light work” is the starting point, where people work together toward a common cause and are greater for it.
The landscapes are named after small towns in Appalachian Ohio — from Moxahala to San Toy to Junction City (my father’s birthplace) — and evoke their natural and human rhythms. The labor portraits are named after past and present local people and their jobs, from prominent black labor organizers and boxing coaches, to miners and moonshiners. They reflect the shared rhythms of manual, community, and care labor that form the fabric of the region.
(And many thanks to the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Archive for the photo.)
You can listen to the album here.
Forest Listening Rooms Released on Bandcamp
Head over to Bandcamp to listen to a newly remixed recording of Forest Listening Rooms, incorporating local voices, field recordings, and ambient music. This is the recording that was installed at the Columbus Museum of Art this year, and if you didn't get the chance to hear it, you can do so now. It has been remixed and newly mastered (thanks to Keith Hanlon at Secret Studio), and sounds great both on headphones and speakers.
Latest Newsletter Out: In Memoriam / Silent City
You can find my latest newsletter here, and read about the contextual history and thoughts on my album Silent City, as a way to memorialize my father’s death. It is hard to write about these things, but it also helps me through it all, somehow. I hope you find some meaning and connection in it. Be well, Brian
Photo by Calista Lyon, courtesy Columbus Museum of Art.
Brian Harnetty and Mary Lucier Conversation for The Hoosac Institute
It was so nice to talk with the amazing Mary Lucier and curator Anna Talarico a few weeks ago for this conversation on our work and the Columbus Museum of Art exhibit, “Partially-Buried: Land-Based Art in Ohio, 1970-Now.”
It was just published in The Hoosac Institute, and you can read it here: https://hoosacinstitute.com/Anna-Talarico
#SoundArt #ForestListeningRooms #AppalachianOhio #hoosacinstitute #artmakescbus
Common Ground: Solo Exhibition at Otterbein University
This fall, I have a solo exhibition at the Miller Gallery at Otterbein University in my hometown of Westerville, Ohio. This includes three sound and visual works from my many years of work in Appalachian Ohio and this is the first time that they have been presented together. I’m also excited to share that we will be presenting a public screening of Shawnee, Ohio, as well as numerous workshops with classes from across the university. You can find more information about the exhibition here.