En Masse by Sara Bouchard

The VCU Rice Rivers Center presents two free October performances of En Masse, a new work by artist/composer and VCUarts Kinetic Imaging adjunct faculty Sara Bouchard developed in collaboration with ecologist Chris Gough. En Masse is a composition for choir and drums which gives voice to the carbon cycle and promotes a culture of care amidst the climate crisis. The piece bridges scientific concepts with themes of ritual and imagination and embraces the experimental, incorporating field recordings, crowd-sourced text and scientific data into the score.

Performances take place October 8, 7pm at VCU’s Institute of Contemporary Art and October 21, 7:30pm at University of Richmond’s Perkinson Recital Hall featuring Scott Clark on drums and the 12-person ensemble The En Masse Singers, conducted by Kristen Melzer. The October 8 event will open with a conversation with Bouchard and Gough on art-science research and collaboration moderated by Hope Ginsburg, artist and chair of VCUarts Kinetic Imaging. The October 21 performance is presented in the context of a short program of environmental sound works from VA-based artists. This is an hourlong event with no intermission.

En Masse was created in partnership with the fluxART residency supported by FLUXNET and the NSF (AccelNet Award No. 2113978) with additional support by VCU Rice Rivers Center, VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, VCUarts and Baliles Center for Environmental Education.