In Lou Sheppard’s program, Wintersong – Atlantic Flyway, participants will learn to sing simple melodies based on the songs of birds that are migrating south from the Toronto area. Using rounds and harmonies we will create a choral soundscape- sounding the songs that will be missing over the winter, sending the birds on their way and calling them back in the spring. All are welcome regardless of prior choral or singing experience. Prior to the workshop Sheppard will give a brief talk about their work.
Sheppard’s program is a part of the Biennial’s weekly Performance and Reading Program: Isonomia in Toronto, a series which takes place within Adrian Blackwell’s two interrelated structures at 259 Lake Shore Blvd E and the Small Arms Inspection Building. Invited guests include poet CAConrad, artists Camilo Godoy and Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Apache violinist Laura Ortman, Sister Co-Resister, and percussionist Marshall Trammell.
Image: Lou Sheppard, Silent Spring: Sackville/Siknikt, 2019, graphic score for a community choral performance. Courtesy the artist.
Performance Program: Isonomia in Toronto
Small Arms Inspection Building (2019)
1352 Lakeshore Road East
Mississauga ON
L5E 1E9
October 26
Bio
Lou Sheppard (born and lives in unceded Mi’Kmaq territory, Canada) works in interdisciplinary audio, performance and installation. His work pays queer attention to systems of meaning-making and how they construct and order our bodies and environments. His research and phenomenological navigations are presented as scores, often performed with other artists and citizen performers, which notate how these systems mediate our experiences and ask how we might experience differently.