ARTS ON THE HILL presents Auksalaq

ARTS ON THE HILL presents Auksalaq

Matthew Burtner & Scott Deal
featuring Ecosono Ensemble
In memoriam: Scott Deal (1957-2026)

Monday, October 12 • 5:30-6:30pm (doors open at 5pm) • Carr’s Hill • Drinks & Snacks • FREE by LOTTERY 

All UVA faculty, staff, and students are invited to enter the lottery for the event. Lottery Entry Deadline: Thursday, October 8 at 12pm • Notification of Winners: Friday, October 9 by 5pm. 

Questions or concerns? Email Gracelyn Spates, Coordinator, Major Events.

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Hosted by President Scott Beardsley and Claire Dufournet Beardsley in partnership with the UVA Arts team, under the leadership of Jody Kielbasa, Vice Provost for the Arts and Executive Director of the Virginia Film Festival.

About Musicians, Artists & Ensemble

Musicians:

• Lisa Edwards-Burrs, voice
• Kelly Sulick, flute
• Kevin Davis, cello
• John Mayhood, piano
• I-Jen Fang, percussion
• Matthew Burtner, electronics
• Visual Media by Scott Deal

Matthew Burtner’s music of Auksalaq composes interlocking environmental forces as eco-musical forms, expressing the profound changes in the ice of the Arctic Ocean. Scott Deal's visual media presents vivid imagery of Arctic land, sea, and sky, along with scientific data and animation. Auksalaq’s chief scientist was Hajo Eicken of the Arctic Snow and Ice Data Center in Alaska. The music maps scientific data through a method called sonification. The musical sonifications Windprints, Iceprints, and Cloudprints lock together into an ecosystem of music that supports songs and interviews with Alaskan cultural leaders and scientists about the Arctic. We hear directly from the scientists as we listen to the sonifications of their data. This performance will feature the Auksalaq songs: You Sink Into the Singing Snow, Vaporous Clouds Condense, and We Are as One Plane. The musicians also perform melting ice live, creating transformative eco-acoustic instrumental music.

Matthew Burtner is an Alaskan-born composer whose work explores embodiment, ecology, polytemporality and noise. He is Eleanor Shea Professor of Music, Composition and Computer Technologies (CCT) at the University of Virginia where he also serves as Curatorial Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center Conservatory. In addition, he co-directs the Coastal Futures Conservatory in the UVA College of Arts and Sciences, and is Founder of the non-profit organization EcoSono.

Scott Deal (in memoriam) was the Co-Creator of Auksalaq, creating the visual media and producing the piece for its initial run of performances in 2012-2016. Deal passed away in 2026 and this performance is dedicated to his memory with love and respect for a wonderful collaborator. Deal’s calling in life was music, and he was a world-renowned percussionist, technologist, producer, and educator. His positivity and strength of character radiated throughout his performances and many collaborations. He performed the visual media live for Auksalaq, and we all miss him. 

EcoSono Ensemble is the performing ensemble of the EcoSono Institute, a non-profit organization pursuing innovative sonic creation for ecological sustainability. The ensemble performs ecoacoustic music, a genre of environmental technology-enabled live music. The group gave its debut performance at the 2012 premiere of Auksalaq, the world’s first climate change and telematic opera, a piece National Geographic News Watch called “a significant cultural event that marries science as the brain, art as the heart and culture as the soul in our search for awareness and sustainability”. EcoSono Ensemble has performed in Alaska, New Mexico, Washington DC, Colorado, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, California, Australia, and Tasmania, and recorded for Parma Records on the albums “Soundscapes of Restoration” with the Coastal Conservatory, Burtner’s “Glacier Music,” and ”The Ceiling Floats Away” with Rita Dove.