Long Beach Opera, which styles itself as the most “historically provocative opera company” in Los Angeles County, has programmed for 2025 the work of composer and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros. To ring in the New Year, PAPER has insider photos and quotes from LBO’s kickoff performance.
For the inaugural show, Long Beach Opera staged a one-time only daytime performance of Oliveros’ Earth Ears: A Sonic Ritual, centered on the composer’s philosophy of deep listening. Artistic Director and Chief Creative Officer of Long Beach Opera, James Darrah, tells PAPER of the performance: “Earth Ears was an opera but also a ritual, an experience and a group incantation that marked a new beginning. As the sun set over the ocean, all collectively were equal participants and shepherds of Oliveros’ sound world and witness to the magic her works can conjure.”
In its own statement, Long Beach Opera describes Earth Ears as “a meditative, interactive text score designed to bring performers and audience together in a powerful act of communal deep listening.”
Throughout her life, openly lesbian Oliveros pioneered new dimensions in sound and music, radically changing the way new composers and musicians approached the natural world, composition and performance. She likewise founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center, the Deep Listening Band, and taught at both University of California, San Diego and Mills College. After her passing in 2016, she left behind countless contributions, many of Long Beach Opera has programmed for its 2025 season.
Josh Rubin on clarinet plays a haunting melody and tone to prepare the crowd to listen.
Photos courtesy of Long Beach Opera
