Live Music Performance to Return to Lands End

The Lands End trail leading to the Sutro Baths (photograph by Justin Scott, courtesy of the National Park Service, from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy event page)

Those with long memories may recall that, in July of 2017, John Luther Adams’ “Inuksuit” was given the sort of outdoor performance that the composer had intended at Lands End. The result was a highly stimulating listening experience in which stimulation had as much to do with the physical setting as with the percussionists performing Adams’ score. The performance itself was enabled through a partnership between SFJAZZ and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

This coming October the Conservancy will venture into another partnership. Those who enjoyed “Inuksuit” will be able to revisit Lands End as a setting for outdoor performance. Those who missed it will enjoy the benefit of a second chance. Once again, percussion will be involved. This time the partnership will be The Living Earth Show, the duo that brings percussionist Andy Meyerson together with guitarist Travis Andrews.

This time the music will be a new work composed specifically with the venue in mind. The title of the work is “Tremble Staves,” created by Raven Chacon from the Navajo Nation. The work is a synthesis of mixed media installation, manipulation of natural and artificial lights and sound, wordless opera, and theatrical performance. The piece is a personal one for the composer, since he has chosen to depict the approaching crisis of water shortage that will impact land from California to the Navajo deserts.

The performance will be set in the flooded ruins of the Sutro Baths, which used to be a swimming pool complex. The performers will use water as a manipulated and amplified instrument. The audience will share this environment with the performers, creating a sonic ecosystem in which all participants are surrounded by water. Audience members will be anchored in a pond of resonance, but they will also find themselves complicit in the draining of the water.

The performance will last for about an hour, beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 19. The Sutro Baths ruins are located at 680 Point Lobos Avenue. They are best approached by taking the 38R bus down Geary Boulevard to the end of the line and then walking the remaining distance. As was the case for “Inuksuit,” there will be no admission charge. Nevertheless, the event page created by the Conservancy includes a DONATE hyperlink; and all financial assistance for the Conservancy’s activities will be greatly appreciated.