The Selection Committee Radio Show with Marie Lorenz & Kurt Rohde, 6/18/23

On this episode of The Selection Committee Radio Show, musician and composer Kurt Rohde and artist Marie Lorenz introduce their collaborative opera Newtown Odyssey, named after the same creek as Newtown Radio. We discuss the nature of collaboration, chance, and making work that responds to particular spaces. We hear many pieces by Rohde, as well as a piece from the experimental composer and inventor of strange and beautiful musical instruments Harry Partch, an inspiration to both Kurt and Marie, who has been working on sculptural instruments in and around her boats. Marie describes the Plank Road Public Shoreline, a semi-hidden point of intersection between surface roads and the creek, where the opera will be performed and outlines its themes of manmade engineering, politics, money, toxic waste and the implacable power of nature.