2021 Solstice Festival
Todd Barton
Modular Synth legend Todd Barton improvised with his Buchla at the TANK as part of the Tank’s Fifth Annual Solstice Festival, Saturday, June 19th. Todd is a composer, sound designer, multimedia performer, and analog synthesist, specializing in Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments, the iconic synthesizers that have defined experimental music since the early ‘70s.
The combination of Todd’s electronic wizardry and the deep, all-encompassing reverb of the Tank made a peak sonic experience, under the starry Colorado sky.
Slow Beethoven
The Festival continued on Sunday, June 20, with Slow Beethoven, a walk-through installation of two slowed down movements from late Beethoven string quartets. Slowing them down allowed each of those lush, Ludwiggy chords to ring out and fade in the Tank, where sounds may sustain for up to 40 seconds.
Played by Lara St. John (Violin 1), Miranda Cuckson (Violin 2), Milan Milisavljevic (Viola), and Jeffrey Zeigler (Cello) at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York, then recorded in the Tank, this project was a prominent experiment in a year of Beethoven festivities for his 250th birthday. Slow Beethoven was a collaboration between the Tank and National Sawdust, made possible by a grant from the Gil Schwartz Foundation.
We will bring both Todd Barton’s concert and Slow Beethoven to you online, later this summer.
The Solstice Festival also included activities on Sunday, June 20, aimed to focus and enhance the sense of being on the planet on this longest day of the year:
Dawn Celebration (5:45am)
Bell ringing at culmination (1:17pm)
Evening celebrations, building the moment of Solstice itself (9:32pm)
The 2020 TANK Solstice Festival
We’ve gathered three playlists, for dawn, noon and sunset, music and sonic experiences especially chosen to focus your sense of the day.
