FERUS Festival 2019: Huang Ruo

About

The FERUS festival is an annual showcase of untamed voices. Presenting the latest in cutting–edge new music with an emphasis on performances that push the envelope, the festival invites artists to perform their newest work in music, multimedia, and beyond. A showcase for all that National Sawdust stands for as a music venue and nonprofit, FERUS transcends traditional tropes to let audiences Hear It New!

The 2019 FERUS Festival presents Huang Ruo’s daring multimedia opera Resonant Theatre: The Sonic Great Wall. Huang Ruo is “one of the world’s leading young composers” (The New Yorker) whose work is “alluring and powerful, . . . inventive and personal” (The New York Times). Born in the last days of China’s Cultural Revolution, his effortless synthesis of new and traditional music from around the globe has garnered him international prizes and acclaim.

The Sonic Great Wall draws inspiration from the Great Wall of China to disrupt the barrier between audience and performer. Huang Ruo does away with the traditional divide between stage and audience areas, inviting audience members to move freely about the space as the performers similarly circulate between outposts. With lighting and sets to complete the effect and soundscapes that change in response to where the audience members are, The Sonic Great Wall is an immersive, participatory experience like no other.

This program is supported, in part, both by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.