2024 Festival Program
NRF Intro Planetudes — Dawn of the Fawn
2’ 21” Spell Songs— Bird of the Blizzard
From the album ‘Gifts of Light’ inspired by The Lost Words and The Lost Spells books by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris Written & Performed by Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux, Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane Produced by Hudson Records Courtesy of Folk by the Oak Festival The video was created by the musician and animator Marry Waterson
7’ 25” Adam Lofton & Emmanuel Vaughan Lee — Sanctuaries of Silence
Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton defines silence not as the absence of sound, but as the absence of noise from modern life. For thirty-five years, Hempton has been documenting the sounds of the Hoh and its many species: Pacific tree frogs, Roosevelt elk, northern spotted owls, the red-breasted nuthatch, Pacific wrens. But even the remote Hoh is increasingly polluted by noise. Planes fly over the rain forest en route to Seattle, emitting a dull roar that punctures the silence of the landscape. Hempton believes that silence, everywhere, is on the verge of extinction. When we first heard of Hempton and his work, we were instantly intrigued with the idea of creating a virtual reality experience to explore Hempton’s notion of silence. As visual as the medium of virtual reality is, with its 360-degree cinematic canvas, our approach with this film was driven primarily by sound. How could we offer the viewer a chance to experience the Hoh Rain Forest through Hempton’s way of listening, giving the sounds their own voice? This question became our motivation.
Our virtual reality film, Sanctuaries of Silence, provides an immersive experience into the Hoh Rain Forest, inviting the viewer to listen alongside Hempton and consider what would be lost in a world where silence has gone extinct. Listening through a microphone taught Hempton to take things in with equal value, without judgment. We were struck by this, and as we joined Hempton in this practice, we found that we were completely present in the landscape and deeply connected to the space around us. We were surprised by the intricate sounds of life, from the creaking trees to the cacophony of birdsong filling the forest. We felt attuned to nature in ways we hadn’t experienced before. Our hope with the film and these listening exercises is that you come away with a new perspective toward sound and the power o f silence. The simple act of listening to the natural world can profoundly impact our relationship to place, rooting us in a presence that we otherwise often take for granted. We invite you to participate in a five-step practice of listening—an opportunity to experience place through sound. These exercises could be done over the course of a day, a week, a month. Try to listen without judgment and simply be present, open, and curious.
14’ 28” Andrew Bird— Mo Teef (Outside Problems)
Andrew Bird is an internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, whistler and songwriter who picked up his first violin at the age of four and spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear. As a teen Bird became interested in a variety of styles including early jazz, country blues and folk music, synthesizing them into his unique brand of pop.
“I wanted to record Inside Problems outside, but this plan fell apart when it became clear that some dude with a wood chipper could really ruin our day. I did so much casual recording during the pandemic, in my backyard or in Ojai, that I gathered enough outdoor recordings to make Outside Problems. Most of these were made without any intention of making an album, just improvisations on simple themes, some of which make up the musical backbone of Inside Problems. I mostly write lyrics with a guitar in my hand on the couch late at night but to find the real musical language of an album, I go outside with my amp and looping pedal and spin out hours and hours of improvisation.”
20’ 26” Jason deCaires Taylor— Grenada Coral Carnival
Music by Planetudes
Jason deCaires Taylor creates underwater worlds. Haunting enigmatic living art installations submerged beneath the waves. He has become one of the first artists to re-conceptualise the underwater realm as a public art space and due to his explorations has been described as the Jacques Cousteau of the art world. Taylor gained international recognition in 2006 with the installation of the world’s first underwater sculpture park, situated in the West Indies off the coast of Grenada. It was subsequently listed by National Geographic as one of the Top 25 Wonders of the World. Since then, working with local communities, Taylor has gone on to create a network of "Underwater Museums” throughout the world. These publicly accessible artworks are visited by thousands of visitors each week and explore modern themes such as the climate emergency, migration and sustainable futures. Using bio-receptive, environmentally sensitive materials that instigate organic growth, the sculptural works evolve, developing new hybrid forms by interacting with marine ecologies. In this way, they regenerate natural habitats and remind us not only of our inherent fragility but also of our connection and intrinsic dependence on nature
29’ 44” Salami Rose Joe Louis— Sugar Coating
Lindsay Olsen is behind the music project Salami Rose Joe Louis. Drawing from her studies in planetary sciences, she creates a unique experience: exploring ideas of multiverses and climate change through the lens of a fictional post-apocalyptic keyboard-toting earthling with a flashlight, a can of cashews and hopeful optimism.
35’ 00” Alexander Liebermann — Birdsong Transcriptions
Compositions translated directly from birdsong, by New York-based composer, Alexander Liebermann.
Uirapuru: Ariane Rovesse (Clarinet) / Javan Pied Starling: Luke Helker (Xylophone) / Eurasian Wren: Alonso Estrella (Drums) / Blackbird: Reyhan Boroumand (Whistling)
From birdsong-inspired compositions to political monodramas, the wide-ranging music of composer Alexander Liebermann is sought after across the United States and Europe. His recent compositions include a climate-change reflecting monodrama commissioned by the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a birdsong-inspired string trio commissioned by members of the Staatskapelle Dresden, and a soundtrack for the documentary film Frozen Corpses Golden Treasures.
As a nature enthusiast, Liebermann devotes much of his time to the sounds of wildlife; his original and accurate transcriptions of animal vocalizations are viral on social media and featured in the world-renowned magazine National Geographic. His first book Birdsong: A Musical Field Guide, is published by Just A Theory Press.
Liebermann graduated from Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Juilliard, and Manhattan School of Music. For his dissertation on Erwin Schulhoff, Liebermann received the Saul Braverman Award in Music Theory. Liebermann resides in New York, where he is a music theory and ear training faculty member at Juilliard’s preparatory division Music Advancement Program
37’ 44” The Go! Team with The Star Feminine Band— Look Away, Look Away
The Go! Team are an English indie rock band from Brighton, England. The band initially began as a solo project conceived by Ian Parton; however, after the unexpected success of the Go! Team's debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, Parton recruited band members to play for live performances and subsequent albums. Musically, the band combines indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of funk and Bollywood soundtracks, double Dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars. Their songs are a mix of live instrumentation and samples from various sources. The band's vocals also vary between performances: while live vocals are handled mostly by lead vocalist Ninja, vocals on record also feature sampled and guest voices.
Star Feminine Band are a group of 7 girls, aged between 10 and 17 years old, from Natitingou, a remote town in the north of Benin. In 2016 they responded to a local radio call out to take part in a series of music training sessions. Previous experience was not neccesary. Indeed, none of the girls had come close to a guitar, microphone or drumkit before.
41’ 32” The Bowerbird Collective—Songs of Disappearance: Australian Mammal Calls
The Bowerbird Collective produces new multimedia work that tells conservation stories, with the aim of strengthening emotional connections to the natural world.
Our work includes live performance, with a focus on performing in regional areas, digital engagement, and educational outreach. We have produced over 250 concerts in Australia, the UK and North America, showcasing our outstanding Core and Associate Artists, and released multiple ARIA chart-topping albums for threatened species.
46’ 12” Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion— Other Song
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has worked with a range of artists including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, and Yo Yo Ma, and she has contributed music to films and tv series including Fleishman is in Trouble, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, and Beyonce’s Homecoming. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.
For twenty years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker). They are celebrated by audiences and presenters for a dazzling range of work: for live performances in which “telepathic powers of communication” (The New York Times) bring to life the vibrant percussion repertoire; for an extravagant array of collaborations in classical music, pop, indie rock, contemporary dance, and theater; and for their work in education and community, creating opportunities and platforms for music and artists that explore the immense possibility of art in our time.
51’ 18” Spell Songs and Wangari Maathai International School— Heartwood
From the album ‘The Lost Words, Spell Songs’ inspired by The Lost Words and The Lost Spells books by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris Written & Performed by Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux, Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane Produced by Hudson Records Courtesy of Folk by the Oak Festival Animation courtesy of the students of Wangari-Maathai International School Berlin with artist Eva Garland and their art teacher Dee Mulrooney
54’ 44” Sam Lee— Bushes and Briars
Made in conjunction with the new documentary film 'The Nightingale’s Song' featuring Sam Lee, screening online via Emergence Magazine starting in May 2024.
Bushes and Briars by Sam Lee is from the forthcoming album Songdreaming released March 15th
Directed and produced by Adam Loften and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
Cinematography by Adam Loften and Jeremy Seifert
Edited by Adam Loften
Produced by Bernard Butler
Vocals, Sam Lee / Piano, James Keay / Double Bass, Misha Mullov-Abbado / Percussion, Josh Green / Electric Guitar, Bernard Butler / Scottish Small pipes, Ali Levack / Violin, Bridget O’Donnell / Violin, Joseph O'Keefe / Trombone, Yusuf Narçin / French Horn, Laetitia Stott / Percussion, Jack Yglesias
59’ 15” On the Brink Arts
Inspiring positive climate action from the ground up by empowering young people through imagination and creativity.
1 hr 10’ 13” Oi Musica and the Soundhouse Chose — Enough is Enough
During the Autumn of 2020, Enough is Enough was composed with the express purpose of inviting choirs, street bands and community groups to learn and perform it, and join an exciting, collective musical response to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow in November 2021.
Conceived by Edinburgh street band artists Oi Musica, who worked with multi award-winning folk singer Karine Polwart and choir director Heather Macleod, this powerful song was created as a call to action, inviting choirs, street bands, community music groups and individual artists to join a tidal wave of music making. The music video features The Soundhouse Choir, dancer Manuella Benini, Glasgow street band Brass, Aye? and a selection of Scottish musicians. A wave of music making followed, and can be found here https://letitgrow.scot/music-for-cop26
1 hr. 17’ 29” Duncan Neilson— Waterludes
Composition, piano performance, and cinematography by Duncan Neilson, featuring the piece “Butterfly Zone Mvt 2”. Waterludes explores the connection between our mountain, Wy’ East (also known as Mt Hood). This film explores the myriad ways in which the mountain provides the water of life for all its surroundings. The surreal and uncanny scenes revealed in the cinematography, are all part of the local landscape, a short walk or drive from Portland, Oregon.
1 hr. 26’ 33” The Bowerbird Collective— Invisible Connections
Simone Slattery, violin & Anthony Albrecht, cello
1 hr. 43’ 33” Neha Misra — Fire Ants’ Resilience
About this Series: In Power Within Our Hands Series, interdisciplinary artist Neha Misra explores the relations of power, agency, resilience at micro and macro scales. In a vivid exploration of resilience, the artist uses hand traces of herself, her family's and her extended community member's to contemplate on the power of diverse hands coming together. The guiding inquiries for this series are: what does it mean to re-claim one's power? How can our collective power foster the well-being of people and the planet? What is the relation between the power and freedom we experience in our private and collective lives? How are these experiences evolving in face of climate change and its disproportionate impacts on communities of color around the world? Artist Bio: Neha Misra नेहा मिश्रा (she/her) is a contemporary eco-folk artist, poet, and an award-winning climate justice advocate. Neha’s Mother Earth wisdom centered interdisciplinary studio embodies the transformative power of art to build bridges between private, collective, planetary healing and liberation. Neha is a 2023-25 Hamiltonian Artists Fellow. She has been honored as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, and as a Regenerative Artivist by the Design Science Studio—a partnership of the Buckminster Fuller Institute and habRitual for leading planet conscious artists. Neha is a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis— an initiative of the OpEd project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication to change who writes history. She serves as the inaugural Global Ambassador for the nonprofit Remote Energy, which is dedicated to making the solar photovoltaic field more inclusive for BIPOC communities, especially women of color
1 hr. 45’ 18” David Rothenberg — The Many Colors of a Sonic Pond
David Rothenberg is a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with a special interest in animal sounds as music. He is also a composer and jazz musician whose books and recordings reflect a longtime interest in understanding other species such as singing insects by making music with them.
In 2024 he released Secret Sounds of Ponds, a book/music/performance initiative which reveals the unknown music beneath the surface of even the most ordinary of ponds. Right in our backyards are beautiful mysteries!
1 hr. 47’ 28” Bowerbird Collective—Songs of Disappearance: Australian Bird Calls
1 hr. 56’ 37” Beth Porter— Wilderness
Cello and voice by Beth Porter. Beth is a well known cellist on the UK folk and acoustic music circuit. Filmed and recorded by Ben Please.
2 hr. 01’ 10” Treeboy— All the Leaves Are Brown
1 hr. 02’ 37” Alison Neighbour featuring the Sacconi Quartet— Music on Impermanent Land
Music on Impermanent Land was a new collaboration between artist Alison Neighbour and the Sacconi Quartet. Set in the beautiful natural surroundings of the Warren, between the Sea and the crumbling chalk cliffs, passers-by were invited to stop a while and feel the fragility and possibilities for transformation held within the liminal landscape. The audience entered the chalk circle holding pieces of chalk, naturally eroded from the cliffs. As they held this piece of deep time in their hands, the music of Philip Glass performed by the Sacconi Quartet invited them to imagine what has been and what may come.
Sacconi Quartet: Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson, Robin Ashwell, Cara Berridge.
Film maker Klip Films, with drone footage by Vidi_air
2 hr. 00’ 40” Alffy Rev — The Sound Of Ocean
Live Looping performance in Nature
2 hr. 06’ 55” Willow Gatewood— Point of Departure
Willow Gatewood is an eco-artist, musician, and writer. Grounded in research, their practice includes recycled and bio-based visual art, words, sound, and biosonification (turning processes within living organisms into music and sound). Themes of ecology, gender, and dismantling binaries guide playful exploration of materials and their stories. Willow loves finding objects and introducing chaos and regeneration in ways that invite us to question what we are seeing, with hopes to spark conversation around critical issues of our time and of our future.
2 hr. 10’ 14” Black Orchids— Radiance
A sonic offering off Black Orchids’ new release The Calling, “Radiance is a sound healing by artist / musician Kay Elizabeth, recorded at The Old Church in Stoke Newington, London. Incorporating the element of water. Cosmic Velcro Remix by Magnus Box (Iron Chicken Recordings)
Mastered by Jon Moon / Kay Elizabeth - voice, flute, Tibetan singing bowls, shakers / Magnus Box - sonic alchemy @blackorchidsofficial @kaysoundpoetry
2 hr. 14’ 55” Pleistocene Megafauna & Sophie Wyllie— Light Resilience
Pleistocene Megafauna is made up of Scott Wyllie and Matt Dear, two musicians with extensive experience of live performance and composition in more traditional band setups in collaboration with Sophie Wyllie, visual artist, whenever possible. With this project they seek to return to a more primordial state of creativity through improvisation, augmenting creative disciplines and telling stories through sound and thought, taking the audience on a sonic and spiritual journey, blurring the lines between participant and observer.
This piece has been created for Natural Resonance Festival by Pleistocene Megafauna and Sophie Wyllie who provide an audio visual representation of the resilience of light through the improvised use of analogue and digital synths and analogue light and shadow visual performance
2 hr. 17’ 28” Diana Shepherd— Tidal
After having moved to the mountains for water, I once again feel the regenerating essence of water. I spent some time just sitting by it and was inspired from a very old piece I performed over a decade ago, so I found the video, rewatched it and spend some time improvising by the water with that piece as inspiration. I am doing an improvisational dance piece inspired by the spirituality of water and will perform it in 2 to 3 different watered places.
2 hr. 20’ 52” Sam Lee — The Tan Yard Side
In the Gallery
Senior Creative and Illustrator in Folkestone, UK.
Heidi Hart is an arts researcher, curator, and pracitioner based in Copenhagen, Denmark and in North Carolina, US, with a focus on sound and music in environmental art. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. in German Studies from Duke University (2016). Heidi's grants and awards include an ACLS-Mellon fellowship and a Pushcart Prize for poetry. She has published monographs on Hanns Eisler's activist art songs and on music in climate-crisis narrative, as well as numerous articles on sound in environmental art, film, and literature; her book Climate Thanatology has recently been published by Really Simple Syndication Press. Heidi serves as an Art and Humanities Research Fellow at SixtyEight Art Institute in Copenhagen and as a Nonresident Senior Research Fellow in the Environment & Climate sector of the European Center for Populism Studies. In 2022-23 she will complete a research project, "Instruments of Repair," with Crafoord Foundation funding through the Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden.
Willow Gatewood is an eco-artist, musician, and writer. Grounded in research, their practice includes recycled and bio-based visual art, words, sound, and biosonification (turning processes within living organisms into music and sound). Themes of ecology, gender, and dismantling binaries guide playful exploration of materials and their stories. Willow loves finding objects and introducing chaos and regeneration in ways that invite us to question what we are seeing, with hopes to spark conversation around critical issues of our time and of our future.
Cherry is an artist and researcher, who tends towards edible, collective, collaborative and sometimes curatorial work. Her transdisciplinary practice explores symbiosis, attunement and interdependence in more-than-human ecologies, as both an artistic strategy and agroecological methodology. Working with community building, plant science, cooking, farming and performance, she seeks rhythms in the dialogue that food creates between the body and the land.
Since early 2022, Cherry’s practice has focused on temporalities and rhythms in the processes of plant-breeding and growing, building on research at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at the University of Aberystwyth. This has developed into her current long-term project The Animist Almanac, initiated whilst resident on the Politics of Food programme at Delfina Foundation. She is the current artist in residence for the Cranborne Chase National Landscape (AONB).
David Rothenberg has written and performed on the relationship between humanity and nature for many years. As a composer and jazz clarinetist, Rothenberg has at least forty albums out under his own name, including On the Cliffs of the Heart, named one of the top ten releases by Jazziz Magazine in 1995 and a record on ECM with Marilyn Crispell, One Dark Night I Left My Silent House.
Gabriella Presnal is an artist who has primarily worked with mediums such as painting, video, sculpture & installation and has also done projects using 360 videos, AR (Augmented Reality), as well as applied fine arts. At the root of many of their works, there is an ongoing conversation with themself on how they exist within dynamics like relationships, spatiality, land, and culture. Their works are especially inspired by their life experiences such as living in countries like the US, Canada, Sweden, and Finland.
Julien Kotukapally
Yen Pei-Chen
Art Direction, Culture, Cultural Heritage, Design, Art Education and Cultural Management