The Counting Game

Description:

The Counting Game was a large-scale musical intervention by artist-in-residence Kathy Kennedy. The twenty-minute work was commissioned by Western Front to mark the inauguration of the new Vancouver Public Library. It involved a choir of 100 vocalists carrying portable radios that transmitted an original score by Kennedy. The score blended pre-recorded classical music and found sounds, and the choir’s text was made up entirely of numbers sung in different languages. Kennedy’s composition was designed to respond to the different acoustic environments produced by the architecture of the library’s atrium and courtyard. 

Additional performances of The Counting Game took place at Granville Island Public Market, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

Program:

May 27, 1995

The Vancouver Public Library

12:55 p.m.

May 28, 1995

Granville Island Public Market

Noon

May 29, 1995

Vancouver Art Gallery

1:00 p.m.

The choir included Gizella Amantea, Aaron Arnett, Katrina Bishop, Mare Burgess, John Burns, Cindy Caird, Robert Cartwright, Wendy Castles, Anna Denny, Janice Dillon, Elizabeth Dunn, Nathan Evans, Una Fester, Connie Fife, Erin Fitzgerald, Margaret Gallagher, David Garfinkle, Grant Gregson, Karen Henry, Lori Hinton, Antonia Hirsch, Daniel Ingram, Andreas Kahre, Evie Katevatis, Bobbi Kozinuk, Dany Lacombe, Nancy Lanthier, Clayten Layker, Katherine Lee, Pat Leonidas, Blair Lewis, Denise Lonewalker, Vanessa Lowe, D. Maracle, Sue McGowan, Francis McLafferty, Kirstie McLeod, Cindy Mellon, Chris Miller, Moreen Meriden, Eric Metcalfe, Kenneth Newby, Michael O’Neill, Mark Parlett, Diyah Pera, Terry Podealuk, Nancy Pollak, Carol Sawyer, Thecla Schiphorst, Sandy Scofield, Lynn Stein, Josh Thorpe, Lorraine Thomson, Doug Tuck, Zainub Verjee, Maura Volante, Savannah Walling, Ben White, and Su-Laine Yeo. 

Presented in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library, with support from Calabria Bakery, English Bay Bagelry, Eveready Energizer, Granville Island, La Baguette, Okanagan Spring Brewery, Que Pasa, Robson Square, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

Video documentation is available upon request.