In Situ Projects

IN SITU PROJECTS (with Molly Sturges)
Designed to be performed in installation settings such as museums, galleries and other visual arts venues, IN SITU is an evolving series of musical pieces created in primary collaboration between Chris Jonas and Molly Sturges. The compositions are easily reconfigurable to work in a variety of spaces and with different locally based ensembles usually consisting of a small instrumental ensemble, an actor or two and a children's choir.

The IN SITU pieces are built as a constantly moving, live 'soundtrack' in response to an installation, animating the experience of passing through the rooms of a visual arts venue. In order to hear all the interlinking parts of the composition, the audience is required to move throughout the space and as a result of this complex 'sculptural' relationship to the installation environment, the experience of the musical piece is unique for each audience member.

"IN SITU" 2007
This site specific commission was composed for instrumental ensemble, vocalists and actor moving through the entire SITE installation. Musical and text materials were derived from the curatorial writings and lectures by the show's curator and artists. Audience members were asked to be totally silent throughout the performance and to move through spaces at will, exploring the "composition" by walking from space to space. The performance ensemble members were linked using various cuing and musical/temporal spacial systems. Site-specific work composed by Chris Jonas and Molly Sturges.

Ensemble: actor; male, female and youth vocalists; violin, viola, contrabass, soprano saxophone, bassoon, percussion, vibes, marimba. Commissioned by SITE Santa Fe and EVO Gallery for end of SITE's 2007 Biennial "Still Points of The Turning World" (Curated by Klaus Ottman).

"Malangan" 2008
“Malangan” was created as a collaborative musical event with Chris Jonas, John Kennedy (of Santa Fe New Music) and Molly Sturges. This piece was built as a disarticulation and recirculation of the images, words, and spaces of the 2008 SITE Santa Fe Biennial exhibition. The performers were linked using various compositional means to explore realms of ephemerality, collaboration and process.

Jonas: composer and conductor, Sturges: composer and director vocal ensemble, Kennedy: composer and director percussion ensemble, small orchestra, UNM Children's Chorus, 2 actors. Commissioned by SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM.

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