To celebrate 50 years of PASIC, PAS is organizing an extraordinary musical experience in downtown Indianapolis at the beautiful White River State Park on Saturday, November 15 at 1:30 pm. Known for its immersive and environmental nature, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit is a concert-length composition for percussion instruments designed to be performed outdoors. This project will be led by PAS Hall of Fame Member and world-renowned percussionist Steven Schick, who commissioned Inuksuit on behalf of the “Roots and Rhizomes” percussion course at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and has led performances throughout the world over the past 15 years.
How to Participate
This performance opportunity is open to PASIC attendees 18 years and older. Performers will be expected to provide their own instruments, register for PASIC50, and cover all travel/lodging costs associated with attending PASIC. PAS will provide storage space for instruments for the duration of PASIC. In the case of inclement weather, the performance will be moved indoors to the Indiana Convention Center.
What is Inuksuit ?
Each performance of Inuksuit is different. Here is a brief explanation from John Luther Adams’ program notes:
“Inuksuit is inspired by the stone sentinels constructed over the centuries by the Inuit in the windswept expanses of the Arctic. The word “Inuksuit” translates literally: “to act in the capacity of the human”. This work is haunted by the vision of the melting of the polar ice, the rising of the seas, and what may remain of humanity’s presence after the waters recede.
“Inuksuit is a concert-length work for percussion, in which the performers are widely dispersed and move throughout a large, open area. The listeners, too, may move around freely and discover their own individual listening points. This work is intended to expand our awareness of the never-ending music of the world in which we live, transforming seemingly empty space into more fully experienced place.”
Inuksuit video by The New Yorker
Production Team
Artistic Director
Steven Schick, University of California San Diego
Co-Producers
Thad Anderson, University of Central Florida
Megan Arns, University of Missouri
Omar Carmenates, Furman University
Maria Finkelmeier, Berklee College of Music
Amy Garapic, Dartmouth College
Scott Herring, University of South Carolina
Doug Perkins, University of Michigan
Bonnie Whiting, University of Washington
Artistic Director and PAS Hall of Fame member Steven Schick will be leading this performance.
Photo by Donald Lee
Composer John Luther Adams
For John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home—an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember our place within the larger community of life on earth. Living for almost 40 years in northern Alaska, JLA discovered a unique musical world grounded in space, stillness, and elemental forces. In the 1970’s and into the ’80s, he worked full time as environmental activist. But
the time came when he felt compelled to dedicate himself entirely to music. He made this choice with the belief that, ultimately, music can do more than politics to change the world. Since that time, he has become one of the most
widely admired composers in the world, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and many other honors.
A deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity drives Adams to continue composing.
As he puts it: “If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being. This will largely be the work of people who will be here on this earth when I am
gone. I place my faith in them.”
