Pink Full Moon: Opera Povera in Quarantine

Opera Povera presents Pink Full Moon: Opera Povera in Quarantine, an international durational livestream performance of visionary composer Pauline Oliveros’s open-form The Lunar Opera; Deep Listening For_Tunes.

Pink Full Moon is a global fundraiser supporting musicians financially affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, administered through the Equal Sound Corona Relief Fund, and also supporting Opera Povera’s Full Pink Moon production expenses.

Pauline Oliveros Foundation produced Lunar Opera: Deep Listening For_Tunes on Thursday, August 17, 2000.

The production was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival at New York City. Composed by Pauline Oliveros with story and direction by IONE, it is dedicated to tolerance and freedom. The inspiration was seeded in a Deep Listening Retreat at Rose Mountain Retreat Center in the Sangre de Christo Mountains of New Mexico on a full moon day July 28, 1999.

Lincoln Center Plaza was transformed into a country named Lunarus on the far side of a moon, named Anomaly, that orbits a planet very much like our own, named Hetrae. From time to time, as the universe continues to expand and dimensional realities shift and slide, Lunarus and her nine Lunar cities become visible to beings of other worlds. August 17th, 2000, the time of a full moon in New York City, was just such a moment.

Created by composer-director Sean Griffin, Full Pink Moon is a joint venture between the University of Chicago’s Gray Center, CalArts, and Opera Povera. Full Pink Moon will draw participants from all over the globe: more than 250 artists representing a dozen-plus countries are currently slated to participate. The show will be streamed live for six hours, beginning at 6pm Pacific, to audiences on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Live, and the hosting organizations’ websites.

The stream is free, but Full Pink Moon is soliciting donations to Equal Sound’s Corona Relief Fund, which supports musicians who have lost income because of the COVID-19 outbreak, and to Opera Povera to compensate its all-volunteer creative team.

Performers will interact with each other via Zoom. The audience feed will alternate between the main Zoom livestream featuring all of the artists performing at once, and curated interludes featuring smaller ensembles throughout the 6-hour performance.

This is a participation opera, an event best viewed from the inside while performing Pauline’s score in your location. This livestream version of Full Pink Moon focuses on the bringing together of our creative community during a time when many are suffering from unprecedented change and uncertainty.

The performance process of Full Pink Moon will be documented and made available publicly at a date to be announced. This curated documentation will include features on individual artists with mixed audio and high-quality video, presenting the audience with a second way of experiencing the work.

The pre-opera discussion is co-hosted by Ron Athey, George Lewis, Sean Griffin, guest curators and artists. Full Pink Moon has a quickly growing roster of international artists. Full Pink Moon is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago’s Gray Center for Arts & Inquiry and California Institute of the Arts.

The livestream will take place at 8pm Central / 6pm Pacific. Pre-concert talk 1 hour before.

Watch the livestream here: https://www.seangriffin.org/full-pink-moon-livestream

Link to donate: https://www.seangriffin.org/full-pink-moon-donate

Note: Livestream concerts are subject to change without notice. If a livestream doesn't take place, we hope you'll visit the performers' website to explore their recorded performances, or discover another group to listen to online!