“THE AURORAS - LAURIE SCHWARTZ / THE FIRES LAST TIME PART 3”
Part I begins at 6:05
THE AURORAS - LAURIE SCHWARTZ
Laurie Schwartz is a composer, intermedia artist, and curator. Her works bring together field recordings, spoken fragments, choreography, and video, interwoven with instrumental, vocal, and electronic sound. She is also the founder and curator of itinerant interludes, a multi-disciplinary performance series presented in galleries and art spaces throughout Berlin. Regardless of the media Schwartz is exploring, her curiosity is a main motivator. During her 2024 residency at Villa Aurora, she collaborated with members of LOOKOUT FM to create this recording of the Villa’s pipe organ. The organ is an architectural feature as much as a musical one. The whole of the house resonates when it is played. To capture this sonic effect, microphones were placed throughout the Villa: in the upstairs writer’s room, inside the fireplace, along the main stairway, and in the library, grand salon, and the mechanical room that houses the organ’s pipes, keys, and bellows. These recordings were then edited and layered into a single composite piece to create a soundscape that evokes the experience of hearing the organ from every part of the house at once.
Recorded June 16,2024 at Villa Aurora
Composed by Laurie Schwartz
Performed by Laurie Schwartz and Tim Leanse
Recorded and Edited by Sam Rowell
https://itinerantinterludes.com
Part II begins at 38:40
THE FIRE LAST TIME PART 3
Feuchtwanger Refreshed is an ongoing collaboration between USC's School of Dramatic Arts MFA Dramatic Writing Program, USC Libraries, and Villa Aurora through which graduate playwrights and their instructors present short scenes inspired by archival holdings and writings from USC's Feuchtwanger Memorial Library.
In this episode we hear the final pieces performed as part of “The Fire Last Time.” Written and performed by student playwrights of the MFA Dramatic Writing Program at USC, these dramatic vignettes present different perspectives on what it means to be home, and the way that definition of home can create sanctuary for people in exile.
“Remind Me of Someone” by Mayookh Barua
“A Whole Life In…” by Nena Martins
The event “The Fires Last Time” was organized by USC Feuchtwanger Memorial Library and Villa Aurora, performed at the Glorya Kaufman Community Center at the Wende Museum on April 29, 2025.
Listen to “THE AURORAS - LAURIE SCHWARTZ / THE FIRES LAST TIME PART 3”