mem mer mère transforms eight measures of Debussy’s La Mer into one giant slow-motion wave that begins deep in the ocean’s trenches and rises through the Abyss, the Midnight, the Twilight, and finally the Sunlight as it breaks through the brilliant sun glitter on the water’s surface.
Agricultural and industrial pollution, coupled with global warming, have created more than 600 dead zones—seasonal hypoxic zones that can be responsible for mass mortality of fish, damaging coastal ecosystems. mem mer mère is underscored by a data sonification of these dead zones—compiled by the research of Dr. Robert Diaz (Professor Emeritus, Virginia Institute of Marine Science) and Dr. Rutger Rosenberg (Professor, Department of Marine Ecology, University of Gothenburg).
Music composed by Melissa Grey & David Morneau with Kate Dillingham after Claude Debussy’s La Mer
live sound processing: Melissa Grey
trombone: David Morneau
cello: Kate Dillingham
live visuals: Marc Fiaux
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
mem mer mère World Premiere
Havre de Grace Cultural Center at the Opera House
121 N. Union Avenue
Havre de Grace, Maryland