Landfall

Laurie Anderson worked on electronics and a custom-built software program for her composition Landfall. Inspired by Anderson’s experience of Hurricane Sandy, Landfall is an evocative meditation on transience. The piece combines texts—descriptions of loss, from water-logged pianos to disappearing animal species—and music that juxtaposes electronics and traditional strings. Dense projected texts were triggered musically via software developed for the work. According to Anderson, Landfall comprises “stories with tempos.” The work was Anderson’s first-ever collaboration with the groundbreaking ensemble Kronos Quartet, a celebrated and influential ensemble that has performed thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth, and commissioned more than 750 new works and arrangements for string quartet.

Laurie Anderson, EMPAC’s inaugural distinguished artist-in-residence, presented a series of events focusing on topics unique to her practice as an artist.