TROVE: LIVE AT MANITOGA — BEN NEILL WITH ERIC CALVI

ANNUAL PERFORMANCE

Saturday, September 30, 4-7pm

Following the 2022 sold-out premiere of Trove, Ben Neill returned summer of 2023 to Manitoga with his immersive, outdoor sonic performance/installation created specifically for the site. The richly textured music ranged from meditative orchestral sonorities to gentle electronic pulses that reference plant life and natural systems through Fibonacci patterns. Audiences experienced a dialogue between ambient music and nature within the magnificent atmosphere of Manitoga’s Quarry Pool and Landscape. Trove is a series of ambient pieces created by Neill in collaboration with producer/composer Eric Calvi in 2020-2021. For the performance, Neill’s unique electro-acoustic Mutantrumpet was augmented with a wireless networked surround sound system specially designed for this event. The reflective, atmospheric music of Trove emanated entirely from the notes and timbres of Neill’s self-designed Mutantrumpet which were captured and processed digitally – no other sound sources were used. Neill and Calvi controlled the spatial movement of the sounds among speakers encircling the Quarry Pool, literally playing Manitoga’s quarry landscape and incorporating its natural sonic qualities into the performance. The audience was encouraged to move around the Quarry Pool in order to experience the sonic ebbs and flows from different perspectives.

Trove has been presented at the following venues:
Tank Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely, CO.
Reflections/Ambient Church at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, NYC
Ambient Lounge, Tuscon, AZ
Indexical, Santa Cruz, CA
Wayward Music Series @ Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Seattle, WA

BEN NEILL

Composer/performer Ben Neill is the inventor of the Mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument, and is recognized as a musical innovator who blends acoustic instrument performance with digital technologies to create “art music for the people” (Wired Magazine). The Mutantrumpet was originally developed with synthesizer inventor Robert Moog and subsequently at the STEIM research center for new instruments in Amsterdam. Neill’s extensive discography includes releases on the Verve, Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, and Six Degrees labels. His long international performance history includes major festivals, concert halls, clubs, and museums such as BAM Next Wave Festival, Lincoln Center, Whitney Museum, Getty Museum, Big Ears Festival, Moogfest, Spoleto Festival, Umbria Jazz, Bang On A Can Festival, ICA London, Vienna Jazz Festival, Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University, Edinburgh Festival, and many others. Neill has been a close associate of La Monte Young since the early 1980’s, leading many international performances of Young’s music. He has worked closely with other innovative musicians and artists including David Berhman, John Cage, John Cale, Rhys Chatham, Nicolas Collins, DJ Spooky, Mimi Goese, King Britt, Pauline Oliveros, and David Wojnarowicz.

In 2014 Neill created MANITOGA, a site-specific piece for the Mutantrumpet, electronics, and brass instrument sculptures by artist Carol Szymanski. The piece was commissioned through a New York State Council on the Arts grant and was subsequently performed at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in 2017 as part of the WNYC New Sounds Live concert series. The wireless surround sound system developed for Trove expands on the ideas developed in MANITOGA and Neill’s other current project, Fantini Futuro. In all of these pieces Neill is exploring the spatialization of acoustic and electronic sound across large distances using brass instruments and wireless technologies. Neill is a Professor of Music at Ramapo College of New Jersey and the Director of the MFA in Creative Music Technology.

ERIC CALVI

Born in the heart of Paris, Eric Calvi came to New York City in the early 1980's to pursue a career as a musician and producer. His vast and diverse discography includes recordings by Miles Davis, Afrika BamBaataa, Cameo, Chaka Khan, Neneh Cherry, Aztec Camera, and Prefab Sprout. He has remixed tracks by Duran Duran, Information Society, Gladiator soundtrack with Lisa Gerrard & Hans Zimmer. As an artist, his Pilgrimage project, which blended early music with trip hop, was released on Philip Glass's Point Music label

Neill and Calvi have a long history of working together which began in the late 1990’s with Neill’s Triptycal and Goldbug albums, co-produced by Calvi for Verve Records. Trove originated during the Covid-19 pandemic and was launched in November 2020. The project continued as an ongoing series of 2 releases per week for one year. Trove is created in the spirit of Erik Satie’s Furniture Music, La Monte Young’s drone pieces, and Brian Eno’s early ambient works; Neill has worked extensively in the ambient genre and with minimalist pioneer La Monte Young, while Calvi produced the critically acclaimed Bang On A Can version of Eno's Music for Airports.

PLEASE NOTE – The House & Studio will not be open for viewing before, during or after the performance.

Important Information

• The performance will be held rain or shine.

• This experience includes a MODERATE HIKE including uneven ground, several bridge crossings with no handrails and a series of 40 stone steps.

• Please wear flat, outdoor-terrain walking shoes for uneven ground and dress appropriately for outdoor weather. Insect/tick repellent, sunscreen and drinking water are highly recommended.

• Seating areas will be designated in the Landscape. A limited number of blankets, cushions, benches and chairs will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

• The following personal items are permitted and encouraged: blankets, cushions, pillows. NO CHAIRS OT TENTS will be allowed.

• Participants are invited to bring a light picnic to enjoy during the performance (cooking and grilling are not permitted onsite). You must carry out what you carry in.

• Pets, tripods, extension poles and selfie-sticks are not permitted.

• Children (including infants) must be at least 10 years of age to attend.

• Tickets are valid for the reserved time and date only, non-refundable, non-transferable, no exceptions.

• Guests may arrive between 3:45pm and 4pm only. “Doors” open at 4pm sharp