Color profile portrait of Steven Parker from the waist up, playing a brass instrument that looks like a euphonium

Steve Parker

Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize
January 11–June 14, 2021
Profession
Lecturer, College of Liberal and Fine Arts, University of Texas at San Antonio
Curator, SoundSpace at the Blanton Museum of Art
Project title
Futurist Opera
Project description

In Rome, I will design a series of novel instruments and sound suits to be used in a new form of participatory opera. Merging influence from the Italian Futurists, World War II surveillance tools, commedia dell’arte, and Marconi’s early radar experiments, I will create wearable listening devices, sonic headdresses, and intuitive graphic scores. In the end, these items will be used to create a ritual performance that employs audience members as operatic performers to examine the history of listening in conflict.