I Am Not in Switzerland

I am not in Switzerland, but the Disquiet Junto has, for the fifth year in a row, collaborated with the great Musikfestival Bern on a series of music composition prompts and resulting recordings. The festival, which will run from September 6th through 10th, has Éliane Radigue as its composer-in-residence this year, and her work inspired our three projects. Tobias Reber of the festival interviewed me about the work in this short (roughly 13-minute) video. Despite appearances, otherwise it’s in English.

We discuss a variety of topics, including: composers communicating about concepts non-verbally, musicians making music for other musicians, Rebecca Solnit’s essay “Preaching to the Choir,” the benefits of there being “too much music” on the Internet, and the 145 individual recordings that resulted from this year’s trio of Junto x Bern projects — many of which tracks will be played in a special exhibition space in Bern during the upcoming festival.