Join us for the premiere live performance of Robert Bradshaw’s original composition for flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin and laptop, based on environmental recordings made on Cape Ann. Performance times for Sounds of a Working Waterfront are 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Space is limited; reservations are required.

For reservations or further information, please call (978) 283-0455 x10 or email [email protected]. This program is free for Cape Ann residents, Museum members, and youth ages 18 and under, or with Museum admission.

Make a reservation here.

In this new work by composer Robert Bradshaw, the actual sounds heard on and around Cape Ann take center stage. “Typically, the ambient sounds of our daily lives accompany our conversations, work and play,” Bradshaw explains.  “Here, the roles are reversed.  Sounds of water, machinery, etc. are the primary focus with the music being the accompaniment.”

To create this unique composition, Bradshaw spent months listening to and recording suggestions from Cape Ann residents – everything from “specials announcements” to “coyotes yipping and howling.”  He compiled the suggestions into a large database and organized the sounds by how often each was suggested.  “As much as I would have liked to include every suggested sound in this piece, the list was too long and the performance would have lasted hours,” said Bradshaw. Instead, he decided to write a series of works based on his recordings, starting with Sounds of a Working Waterfront.

The performance will take place in the Museum’s special exhibitions gallery surrounded by Jim Hooper’s photographs from the Portraits of a Working Waterfront exhibition. The audience will be immersed in the recorded sounds, with musicians performing in a variety of ways, both live and prerecorded.  The concert includes a very special solo performance by renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra Second Trumpet, John Hagstrom, who recorded his part of the composition for this event. Also performing are Andrea LeBlanc (flute/recorded), Monica Duncan (clarinet/live), and Rockport native and respected music educator Nathan Cohen (violin/live).

About Robert J. Bradshaw
Focused on producing socially relevant art, Robert J. Bradshaw’s music is inspired by historical events and influenced by his artistic, multi-cultural family. His formative years were spent surrounded by generations of artists including his great-grandfather, George A. Bradshaw, whose etchings can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection; his paternal grandfather, a watercolorist and art historian; and his maternal grandfather, a jazz guitarist from New York City. The result is a sophisticated fusion of musical styles, celebrated as “wholly and unmistakably American.”  His compositions have been heard in Lincoln Center and at the Kennedy Center’s International VSA Festival. Commissions include works for the James Pappoutsakis Flute Competition, the New England String Ensemble Musical Heritage Initiative and the American String Teachers Association with NSOA.  Of particular note is the Australian Trumpet Guild’s commission of the opera Gabriel, which was premiered at the 35th Annual Conference of the International Trumpet Guild, courtesy of Opera Australia and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
 
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Gloucester Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.