Redefining the art of listening
Open Ears Festival is an audacious mix of ambition and experimentation
In the unlikely event Justin Bieber shows up begging for a performance spot at the Open Ears Festival of Music & Sound — unfolding at various Waterloo Region locations beginning Wednesday — artistic director Richard Burrows knows exactly how to respond.
“I’m not gonna say ‘no,’” offers the personable talent wrangler, enjoying his first kick at the can at this biennial celebration of sound in all its forms.
“But I would challenge him to do something different than he does at a normal concert, to redesign the musical experience on stage so you appreciate it in a different way.”
Just to be clear: the billion dollar pop star is not coming to Open Ears ... well, as far as anyone knows.
But it speaks to the appeal of this upstart festival, trumpeting the offbeat and unusual over the tried and true for 20 years.
“We’re trying to engage people in a way that redefines the art of listening,” notes the 40-year-old percussionist and music educator, who got his start banging on his mother’s pots and pans.
“Instead of music in the background, it’s a moment to stop and reflect and be magical.”
It also ties into the region’s tech industry — an audacious mix of ambition and experimentation — and a musical movement away from mainstream consumption toward a streaming culture that celebrates individual niches.
“We are a growing region known as Silicon Valley
North, defined by innovation and tech,” notes
Burrows, who performs with the percussion quartet TorQ.
“For me, this festival represents what Waterloo Region is about.”
That means, in part, challenging the audience with everything from drone experiments, turntable artists and interactive sound sculptures to the use of board games like Pop-O-Matic “Trouble” and music box punch cards as musical instruments.
“Avant-garde is a scary term,” Burrows says of the festival’s wide array of musical expression. “I call it indie classical.”
“These are things off the beaten path and a little niche — music you’re not going to find at a rock concert or on a Top 40 radio station. Things that are transformative, to open your eyes and inspire you to listen in a different way. “It’s an indie microbrewery model.”
Among this year’s boundary-pushing highlights:
• A punch card composition workshop with music-box composer Jason Doell. Participants will receive a music box, puncher and punch cards. (May 31)
• A tribute to Frank Zappa featuring Austrian ensemble Studio Dan, whose name is derived from Zappa’s ‘78 album Studio Tan. (June 1)
• A feature documentary about famed avant-garde artist, musician and educator Tony Conrad, who had links with both the Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth and appeared at Open Ears in 2011 before his death two years ago. (June 2)
• The concert pairing of Nico Muhly — known as the Bill Murray of the Avant-Garde — with acclaimed violist/ fellow New Yorker Nadia Sirota for an evening described as “a journey of post minimalist, electronic and pure chamber bliss.” (June 2)
• A tribute to Peter Hatch, who founded the festival in 1998, with church bells ringing across the city and a choir of Rooftop Voices. (May 30)
• A Night at the Museum featuring the Penderecki String Quartet, TorQ Percussion Quartet, 50 different instruments, electronics and the world première of turntable artist/DJ/composer Nicole Lizee’s new octet. (May 31)
• Music from “The Lost Ones,” a concert/play hybrid about love, loss, manipulation and politics that references online dating, internet surfing, the devastating fate of child soldiers and — as if this weren’t enough — musical reinterpretations of songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, AC/DC and the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. (June 1)
• The world première of Katerina Gimon’s new piece for multi-instruments and voice, which Burrows says will be “a moving orchestra of sound” as musicians and listeners wander through Victoria Park. (June 2)
• Acclaimed Japanese mixingboard master Toshimaru Nakamura teamed with Norwegian microtonal tuba virtuoso Martin Taxt for a performance Burrows says will “manipulate sounds in the moment and take you on a journey.” Billed as an “intense, immersive and brain-rewiring night of performance.” (May 31)
It’s not the spoon-fed pablum you find on Top 40 radio.
You can’t hum it at bus stops or in a Walmart parking lot.
But as the music mainstream splinters into a thousand tiny pieces, it resonates with the thrill of new discovery.
“We’re the hipster generation,” proclaims Burrows, insisting the old rules don’t apply. “No longer do we have to follow one path.
“We’re providing an opportunity for niche musical artists to emerge in a popular setting for listeners who haven’t heard them in the past. We’re living in an age of information and wanting something different and new.”
Having said this, he realizes there’s a growth curve to this brave new world of music experimentation that, even after 20 years, has a long way to go.
“As a percussionist, I’ve spent most of my music career trying to explain to people what it is I do,” he notes without resentment. “The first question is always, ‘Oh, you’re a percussionist. What’s your day job?”
He laughs. “But I perform in symphonies.”
In the end, it’s about taking risks and letting go of the past, or at least shoving it to the side for five days once every two years.
“For me, Open Ears is not your typical folk festival where you show up and hear bands you’ve heard on the radio in a fenced off park with food trucks,” notes Burrows, adding that musicians are more likely to be performing in odd combinations in a park.
“We’re highlighting cultural diversity and creating art outside the norms you would have at a university. It’s a festival for those curious for a new experience.”