30 Nov 2016

The Great Goat Milking and The Great Chorus at the Royal Ontario Museum

Following in the tradition of Bill Burns' The Great Goat Milking, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is pleased to present Bill Burns' The Great Chorus on Sunday December 4th from 1:30 -2:30pm.

The Great Chorus will be presented at the Royal Ontario Museum. The performance headlines the Dogs and Boats and Airplanes Experimental Choir (the largest choir of it's kind in the world), featuring the students of Lord Lansdowne Public School and da Vinci Alternative Public School in Toronto. The project is a result of an 18-month research residency at the Royal Ontario Museum. Bill Burns and collaborators, Alan Gasser, Krys Verrall, Carrie Perreault and the students of Lord Lansdowne Public School and da Vinci Alternative Public School have been visiting the backroom collections at the ROM. The experimental libretto is based on the research of the students and artists. It is written in partnership with Krys Verrall, students, and ROM scientists under the choral direction of Alan Gasser.

The Great Chorus is the second performance in the series following the success of The Great Goat Milking. The project is about longing and desire. It sticks together by virtue of its connection to the museum, animals, milk, and honey.

The Great Chorus will take place at the Royal Ontario Museum on Sunday December 4th from 1:30pm - 2:30pm. Access to the performance is by General Admission to the museum. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, Canada

Bill Burns' work about nature and civil society has been shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and MoMA, New York. He is Artistic Director of Big Pond Small Fish and has produced collaborative projects with Alan Gasser and Krys Verrall for festivals and exhibitions in Canada, Australia, UK, and Argentina. His most recent book Hans Ulrich Obrist Hear Us is published by YYZ BOOKS: Toronto, and Black Dog Publishing: London. Bill is represented by MKG127 in Toronto.

Alan Gasser has worked throughout his professional life as a voice teacher, singer/chorister and music director. His major performance outlets have been as Co-Director of the Echo Women's Choir, Toronto (since 1993) and singer with Trio Kavkasia, Toronto (of which he is a founding member). Alan has performed widely nationally and internationally.

Krys Verrall is an educator, experimental writer and artist. She has presented her art and research about young peoples culture in Argentina, Canada, Denmark, USA, and Australia. In 2013 she produced an experimental libretto in collaboration with 100 children for the Dogs and Boats and Airplanes Choir in Tasmania, Australia. She is adjunct faculty in the Department of Humanities at York University, Toronto.

Carrie Perreault is a multidisciplinary artist. She has participated in cultural exchanges at University of Mumbai, India and Zhejiang Gongshang University, China. She has worked in arts education in Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her varying social and political environments influence her work.

The artists acknowledge support from the Toronto Arts Council and Royal Ontario Museum.

Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, Canada M5S 2C6

More information: billburnsprojects.com