World Premiere
Tuesday, January 31, 7 PM
Wednesday, February 1, 7 PM
Something about the Weather is a new and original work by New York-based composer, producer, and performer Hahn Rowe. It was commissioned by Columbia University School of the Arts as part of the 2022–23 season of public programming and engagement organized around the theme “To Transform.”
Rowe describes Something about the Weather as “an inquiry into what we do when we are left to make something from nothing. While old structures are stubbornly refusing to die, many have lost the ability to dream of another reality. Music and sound can ignite our ability to ride along the edges of our imagination, where transformation is possible.”
In this concert, Rowe will use digital processing alongside traditional instruments and crude, everyday objects to build a fluid, shapeshifting soundscape for the Lantern — the flexible, top-floor space of the Lenfest Center for the Arts.
“An expedition in the wilderness? A cooking show gone awry? A negotiation of inclement conditions?,” Rowe asks. Something about the Weather is "a ritual romp through a playground of all things sonorous.”
Something about the Weather is the latest in a series of commissions by Columbia University School of the Arts, including WATERLICHT NYC by Daan Roosegaarde (2019); Release the Horses (fka hydra) by Phoebe Osborne (2021); Mundoagua by Arturo O’Farrill (2021); and The Art of Listening: Under Water by Jana Winderen with Tony Myatt (2022).
Photos by Rob Davidson.
Artist Hahn Rowe ©A.DONADIO
About the Artist
Composer, producer, and performer Hahn Rowe has developed a uniquely personal sonic language, traversing a vast array of musical terrains and weaving them into ever-shifting, polymorphic soundscapes. At home in the studio as well as in the performance arena, he has worked to break down the barriers between traditional musical performance, sound art, and physical theater.
As an engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist (violin, guitar, electronics) he has worked with Hugo Largo (two albums on Brian Eno’s “LAND/OPAL” imprint), David Byrne, Anohni (Anohni and the Johnsons), Glenn Branca, Swans, R.E.M., and Yoko Ono, among many others.
A recipient of three New York Dance and Performance Awards (aka the Bessie), Hahn Rowe has a long history of scoring music and performing for dance and theater. He has been involved in over 30 evening-length dance/theater productions, working globally with the likes of Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Benoît Lachambre, Louise Lecavalier, Bebe Miller, John Jasperse, Simone Aughterlony, and Antonija Livingstone.
Hahn Rowe is active as a composer for film and television, having created scores for films such as Clean, Shaven by Lodge Kerrigan, Spring Forward and The Cold Land, by Tom Gilroy, Married in America by Michael Apted, and Sing Your Song by Susanne Rostock.
Recently, Rowe’s music was featured as a major component in Adam Pendleton’s Who Is Queen? at MoMA (2021) and he has created the soundscore for Pendleton’s latest video work, Toy Soldier (Notes of Robert E. Lee, Richmond, Virginia/Strobe), as part of his exhibition, Toy Soldier (Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich 2022).
Lighting design by Kate McGee.
Read more about Hahn Rowe’s work and Something about the Weather in “Sonic Theatre: Hahn Rowe Crafts a Soundscape for The Lantern.”
Notice
Filming, photographing, and/or sound recording will take place in connection with this event. Please be advised that your presence as a member of the audience during the event constitutes your permission to let Columbia University use your likeness for promotional and/or broadcast purposes.