UAS to host "Inuksuit": An Alaskan Musical Premiere Like No Other

This interactive outdoor event will include local musicians led by Juneau Jazz and Classics Artists in Residence Third Coast Percussion.

Juneau, Alaska

Date of Press Release: May 18, 2016

Saturday, May 21, 2016, the University of Alaska Southeast Auke Lake campus will be the site of the Alaskan premiere of Inuksuit, a multi-percussion musical experience by Pulitzer Prize winner and former Alaskan John Luther Adams. Raw, wild and epic, this outdoor event will include local musicians led by Juneau Jazz and Classics Artists in Residence Third Coast Percussion. A pre-event information session, including a video and message from John Luther Adams, is set for 1:30 p.m. in the Egan Lecture Hall. The interactive campus- wide performance will commence at 2 p.m. in the Mourant Courtyard by the whale sculpture.

Described by the New York Times as “the ultimate environmental piece,” Inuksuit involves a variety of percussion instruments and players dispersed through the outdoors on and around the UAS campus. The piece has been performed all over the world in recent years. “Each performance of Inuksuit is different,” Adams has said of the piece, “determined by the size of the ensemble, the specific instruments used, the topology and vegetation of the site, and even by the songs of local birds.”

The event is part of the final day of the annual Juneau Jazz & Classics festival. Organizer Sean Connors of Third Coast Percussion said, “Inuksuit is a truly unique performance experience. It is at once an intricately structured concert work, a beautifully hypnotic sound installation, an interactive work of performance art, and a communal music making event like no other. It is not everyday that you can gather a large group of people together that are all excited about making a truly groundbreaking piece of art. It is sure to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for both the audience, the performers, the University of Alaska Southeast, and the greater Juneau community!”

Introduction to Inuksuit

Map of Performance