2021/2022 Season

JULY 2021

TIMELAPSE FILMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WERE SHOWN UNDER THE STARS AT THE HARRISON HOUSE OUTDOOR BACKSTAGE. CHOSEN FROM OVER 100 SUBMISSIONS, WE ANNOUNCED FINALISTS, WINNERS, AND BEST-IN-SHOW.

The event was hosted by Casey Kiernan, Founder/Director of Timelapse Film Festival, who specializes in 4K, motion-control, timelapse, Milky Way photography, Iceland landscapes, desert landscapes and cityscapes, including aerial drone filming, and teaches timelapse photography in Joshua Tree National Park.


SEPTEMBER 2021

EMILY ENDO, TEXTILE ARTIST, GAVE AN IMMERSIVE WORKSHOP TO EXPLORE NATURAL DYEING WITH PLANTS COLLECTED ON THE HARRISON HOUSE GROUNDS. PARTICIPANTS LEARNED TO PROCESS RAW PLANT MATTER INTO DYES USING INTRODUCTORY TECHNIQUES.

Emily Endo received a BFA in fiber from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA in fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Emily was the Chair of Oregon College of Art and Craft Fibers Department, and worked as a mentor in the Pacific Northwest College of Art. In addition, they taught visual arts classes for adults with developmental disabilities and children’s wilderness survival and craft classes. Emily has exhibited and lectured internationally at venues such as the Scottish Glass Art Society, the Museum of Contemporary Craft (Portland), the American Craft Council (Minneapolis), Portland Art Museum, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Their work has been featured in magazines including American Craft, Interior Design, Art Ltd. and Frontrunner. Emily is the co-director of the High Desert Observatory in Yucca Valley, CA.


NOVEMBER 2021

HIROKO TAMANO, BUTOH MASTER, LED A POMEGRANATE HARVEST CELEBRATION WORKSHOP + PERFORMANCE CELEBRATING MOTHER EARTH WITH DANCE, MUSIC, AND WORDS. THE PERFORMANCE, WITH LIVE MUSIC BY TUMBLEWEED TIMEMACHINE WAS FREE TO THE COMMUNITY AND WAS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR DEAR FRIEND ANNA GROSS.

Hiroko Tamano is a master teacher and performer of Butoh having worked closely in Japan, from a young age, with Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of Butoh. In 1979. Hiroko and her husband Koichi, Hijikata’s premiere solo dancer, moved to Berkeley, California and formed Harupin-Ha Company, who have performed in venues around the world.


NOVEMBER 2021

SLEEPWALKER (KRISTEN GASS) WAS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE USE OF THE HARRISON HOUSE FOR ONE MONTH TO REHEARSE FOR HER PERFORMANCE WITH PORTLAND-BASED TRIO THE CABIN PROJECT. TRADITIONALLY A GUITAR PLAYER, KRISTEN USED THIS TIME TO HONE IN ON A NEWFOUND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PIANO AND HER VOICE.

Sleepwalker combines poetry, melodics, and internal instinct to offer a unique, delicate, yet cutting sound that propels the listener to lean in and re-discover the deeper, more sacred tones and emotions which make us human. The Cabin Project is an orchestral band from Portland whose sound stems from haunting choruses, three-part harmonies, pedals, synths and strings.


NOVEMBER 2021

ERIC BYERS, CELLIST, PERFORMED A BENEFIT CONCERT FOR HARRISON HOUSE AT THE JOSHUA TREE RETREAT CENTER’S SANCTUARY. THE PROGRAM INCLUDED BACH’S CELLO SUITES NO. 1 AND NO. 6 AND BYERS’ ARRANGEMENTS OF SAINTE-COLOMBE’S LE RETROUVE AND MARAIS’ LES VOIX HUMAINES.

Eric Byers is a renowned soloist and a founding member of the Calder Quartet, with whom he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Wigmore Hall and Disney Hall and made acclaimed recordings of the Mozart Piano Concerti and chamber works of Terry Riley and Peter Eötvös. Chamber music collaborators have included Joshua Bell, Edgar Meyer, and Menahem Pressler. Byers has conducted masterclasses at The Juilliard School, Cincinnati Conservator of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, UCLA, and USC. He was inspired to compose while in residence at the Lou Harrison House in 2012, and since then his works have been performed at Kennedy Center, SummerStage in NYC, and Hear Now Festival in LA.


DECEMBER 2021

MARK MORRIS, CHOREOGRAPHER’S, RESIDENCY AT HARRISON HOUSE WAS SOMETHING OF A PILGRIMAGE TO PAY TRIBUTE TO MARK’S LONG ASSOCIATION WITH LOU HARRISON’S MUSIC THAT HE CHOREOGRAPHED TO AND COMMISSIONED OVER MANY YEARS.

Mark Morris is one of the most renowned living choreographers. He is the founder of the Mark Morris Dance Group and Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY. Noted for his musicality, Morris has been described as “undeviating in his devotion to music” (The New Yorker). His work has been recognized and performed globally.


APRIL 2022

SoundCheckEarth, an immersive concert inside Joshua Tree National Park composed by Kennedy Verrett, for 17 musicians, led listeners into the natural world where the earth, humans and animals, were part of the soundscape. A strolling audience on the half mile walking path at Cap Rock received wondrous deep listening sensations. “I can only compare the experience with concerts I have heard in Cathedrals in Europe”. T. Sullivan. A film by Eva Soltes will follow.

Kennedy Verrett is an innovative composer and music educator whose imaginative works capture beauty, rhythmic energy, and melodic interest. Inspired by composers who have preceded him including Lou Harrison, Julius Eastman, and Harry Partch, Kennedy has performed with many ensembles and as a conductor for orchestras, including the Monroe Symphony Orchestra and Fullerton Woodwind Quintet, with Iwhom he also played bassoon and contrabassoon. Additionally, Kennedy performs on piano and an assortment of exotic instruments,including didjeridu and duduk and can be heard on various soundtrack recordings. Kennedy’s orchestrations and arrangements can be found in films such as Deliver Us From Evil (Screen Gems), The Monkey King, Priest (Screen Gems), and Drag Me to Hell (Universal). Kennedy is a 2020-2022 composing fellow at the Harrison House.