THE LOOK AND LISTEN FESTIVAL SEEKS TO EXPAND AND ENGAGE AUDIENCES OF 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY ART BY PRESENTING NEW AND ESTABLISHED WORK IN STIMULATING AND PROVOCATIVE ENVIRONMENTS.
In so doing, the Festival provides a visual context for music and an aural context for visual art. This cross-pollination between the aural and the visual is captivating and thought-provoking for audiences and artists alike, and both art forms benefit in this collaborative forum.
Since its founding in 2001, the Look & Listen Festival has flourished by leaps and bounds. The 2005 Look & Listen Festival enjoyed tremendous success. Seating was filled to capacity each night, and responses from the audience and performers were overwhelmingly enthusiastic. It received press recognition from several notable sources, including New Yorker music critic, Alex Ross.
Programming of the Festival makes a point of presenting the new alongside the established: pieces by prominent composers are juxtaposed with works by emerging composers, whose reputations are just beginning to grow, and renowned, established performers share the stage with some of today's brightest young stars. The Festival's unique combination of the new and the established enhances the appreciation of both.
Three other elements of the festival are critical to its success:
Panels
Panel discussions with composers and visual artists are integral to the design of the Festival. Creative artists enjoy the opportunity to share a dialogue, and audience members gain an insider’s view into the creative processes in the visual and musical arts.
Ambient Music
Pre-concert presentations of ‘ambient compositions’ - pre-taped works for electronics written by emerging composers from the Look & Listen Festival Composers Collective are premiered in the half-hour prior to each evening’s full-length concert. Audience members are free to listen, browse the gallery, talk amongst themselves, and absorb the the visual art during this time.
Composition Competition
Each year, Look & Listen sponsors a composition prize, receiving entries from young and emerging composers from all over the world. Winning composers receive a cash award as well as a performance of their piece on one of the Festival concerts.
