Robert Rich Sleep Concert
Live at
The Gatherings Concert Series
Sunday 4 June 2017
Midnight to 8:00AM
Doors Open Saturday June 3, 10:30PM-11:30PM
Patrons will be admitted after midnight only at the discretion of the management.
This event is in our sanctuary space in the front of the building. PLEASE ENTER ON WALNUT STREET.
Robert Rich returns to Philadelphia and The Gatherings Concert Series for an eight hour sleep concert performance, from Midnight to 8AM, on Sunday June 4, within The Rotunda Sanctuary.
Attendance is limited to 100 quietly prone attendees with proper sleeping apparatus. Advance tickets are $32 and are highly recommended. Purchase HERE
Robert Rich finds expression in his works by fusing nature, technology, art and craft into a sonic replica of our earthly macrocosm. His music is concise, exhilarating and charged by a keen sense of drama. Moving through his many albums we find multi-layered realizations enlivened by misty flute solos, floating glissando guitar, and ethereal synth pads. Less active areas within the meshes of musical fabric are like an oasis nestled inside his ambitious design.
Conjuring soundscapes derived from the darkest regions of the earth, to the brightest grain of stardust, Rich's performances evoke the enigmatic nature of the universe while emphasizing its harmony with the human spirit. With his steel guitar, flutes, field recordings, synthesizers and samplers Robert Rich delves into the mysteries of the cosmos, and our place in it.
The term "Sleep Concert" can be a bit misleading, as it implies that this music is intended to help the listener sleep deeply. On the contrary, at this unique all-night event, the audience may find that they sleep less deeply, and wake up more often. The idea is to let the music incorporate itself into our perceptual framework during the night, to create a sonic surround, an environment for unique states of consciousness.
The music is aimed at the nebulous territory that exists in our minds when we are hovering between awake and asleep, and still aware of our environment - yet detached, as the half-sleeping mind wanders into the realm of hypnogogic images and dreamlike non-linearity. This music may be found to act as a trigger for these flowing thoughts, and the activation of the surrounding environment can help us skate around the edges of sleep, with part of us in the dream world, and part in the physical space where we are sleeping.
The experience of listening privately will differ from the experience of audience members during the Sleep Concert. In the concert situation, an additional state of heightened arousal can occur from social factors, whereas the environment of the home is more relaxed.
People become more physiologically activated merely by being in the proximity of other people. Perhaps this arousal is a purely chemical phenomenon - which is an interesting feature that distinguishes a live Sleep Concert from listening to a recorded version at home. In the act of bringing a group of people together in the same room, we create an energized environment, which can contribute to the intensity of personal experiences. But for these factors to contribute to an interesting aesthetic experience, listeners must combine this activation with an increase in attention to internal states of mind. The music hopes to intensify this internal focus.
Fore much more info on The Gatherings Concert Series, Robert Rich, Stars End, and more, please visit thegatherings.org/120gather.html
Attendance is limited to 100 quietly prone attendees with proper sleeping apparatus. Advance tickets are $32 and are highly recommended. Purchase HERE