Images from "Le Noir de l'Etoile"

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

On May 20th, six percussionists (James Beauton, Greg Beyer, Amy Garapic, Doug Perkins, Jeff Stern, and Mari Yoshigawa) and astronomer Tom Geballe arrived in Putney, Vermont for a week devoted to exploring Gérard Grisey's Le Noir de l'Etoile. For six days the ensemble rehearsed in the Greenwood School gynasium and Tom Geballe gave numerous talks for Greenwood students and faculty, members of the local community, and those who attended the performance on May 25th. While the original plan called for a starlit performance on the Greenwood School soccer field, questionable weather called for an indoor experience. Over 200 people, from as close as the houses next door and as far as Dallas, TX, settled onto mats and chairs beneath a giant silk pulsar created by Greenwood faculty member Annie Quest, surrounded on all sides by percussionists and the sound of pulsars.