CANtata for a loop trail

Music by Erik Spangler
Directed by Victoria Crutchfield

Erik Spangler: Cantata for a Loop Trail (excerpts)

Video by Michael Faulkner.

Photo by Janette Pellegrini.

Ruby Fulton

Photo by Molly Sheridan.

Erik Spangler and George Lam

Photo by Molly Sheridan.

Robert Maril and Bonnie Lander

Photo by Molly Sheridan.

Overview

Erik Spangler’s Cantata For A Loop Trail took place on two outdoor loop trails in Baltimore and New York. Spangler guided small groups of audience members to different stations along the path, where the audience encountered the performers both in close proximity and from a distance. Cantata for a Loop Trial used texts by Spangler, Wendell Berry, the Roman Code of Justinian and Appalachian folk songs, framing the work as a type of secular ecological Mass. In addition, the performances also included site-specific audio installations of local interviews and environmental sounds.

Special thanks to Doug Retzler, Heide Grundmann, Rick Smith, and to the students at the Good Shepherd School of New York, NY. Also special thanks to American Opera Projects, Make Music New York, and Friends of Gwynn Falls Leakin Park.

The Norman Reeves Nature Walk at Gwynn Falls Leakin Park is currently the site of Nature Art in the Park, a unique outdoor exhibit in its forth year where artists work only with natural materials in site specific installations.