Lisa Bielawa’s Voters’ Broadcast - Virtual World Premiere
Wednesday, October 28, 3:00-4:00 pm
Registration is required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lisa-bielawas-voters-broadcast-virtual-world-premiere-registration-122615362851
This event is free and open to the public.
Join composer Lisa Bielawa as she unveils her new, broadly participatory musical work Voters’ Broadcast (http://www.lisabielawa.net/voters-broadcast) in its entirety for the first time online in this virtual event hosted by University Musical Society President Matthew VanBesien, and co-presented by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Kaufman Music Center in New York.
Bielawa has created Voters’ Broadcast for an unlimited number of voices and instruments made up of choral singers and instrumentalists from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the University Musical Society Choral Union; Kaufman Music Center in New York; and more, for performance online and/or by socially distanced ensembles. Her mission with the work is to stimulate voter engagement, political awareness, and community participation in challenging lockdown conditions, through the act of giving voice to the concerns of fellow citizens during the lead-up to the 2020 Presidential election.

The text for Voters’ Broadcast is excerpted from artist Sheryl Oring’s ongoing project I Wish to Say, which uses vintage typewriters for social change. I Wish to Say consists of performances in which Oring and a pool of typists work on vintage manual typewriters and invite the public to dictate postcards to the U.S. President. In the current circumstances, Oring and the typists are holding Zoom sessions, during which participants dictate their messages to the next President. Launched in 2004, the project has garnered nearly 4,000 postcards to President Bush, President Obama, and President Trump, all of which have been mailed to the White House on behalf of the participant as part of the performance.

Voters’ Broadcast is commissioned as part of the Democracy & Debate theme-semester by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with support from its School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and developed in partnership with Kaufman Music Center in New York, where Bielawa is a 2020 Artist in Residence.

Voters’ Broadcast is providing voting information via HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. Check your voter registration and make a plan to vote at HeadCount.org.

Register for the Virtual Premiere of Part 1 of Voters’ Broadcast on Wednesday, September 30 at 3pm: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lisa-bielawas-voters-broadcast-part-1-virtual-premiere-registration-122613390953

Register for the Virtual Premiere of Part 2 of Voters’ Broadcast on Wednesday, October 14 at 3pm: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lisa-bielawas-voters-broadcast-part-2-virtual-premiere-registration-122614718925

Please RSVP to reserve your place for this free event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lisa-bielawas-voters-broadcast-virtual-world-premiere-registration-122615362851