Projects

“All the time while rowing we were facing the star­board side of the sin­king ves­sel. By that time, E & C decks were com­ple­te­ly sub­mer­ged, and the strains of music beca­me fain­ter, as though the instru­ments were fil­ling up with water…”

— Margaret Brown, recoun­ting her expe­ri­ence in life­boat No. 6

“Those that were in the life­boats which were clo­se to the ves­sel say that the orches­tra play­ed till the very last and that the men went down into the sea sin­ging ‘Nearer My God to Thee’.”

— Caroline Bonnell, survivor

Disasters fasci­na­te us. They draw us in and con­front us with our own fra­gi­li­ty, remin­ding us of our mor­ta­li­ty. On the night of April 14–15, 1912, the RMS Titanic col­l­i­ded with an ice­berg. According to accounts, the ship’s band con­tin­ued to play until the very end. All the musi­ci­ans perished.

Perhaps the Titanic dis­as­ter is so cap­ti­vat­ing becau­se, as one account sug­gests, “the­re are not many sto­ries in which peo­p­le who are neither ill nor caught in a con­flict are sud­den­ly forced to con­tem­p­la­te their immi­nent death within just a few hours.” Immediately after the cata­stro­phe, the musi­ci­ans were hai­led as heroes, and to this day, legends sur­round them. Conflicting tes­ti­mo­nies from sur­vi­vors have led to ongo­ing spe­cu­la­ti­on about the last song they played.

“SONGS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD” is a head­pho­ne con­cert that takes inspi­ra­ti­on from the endu­ring fasci­na­ti­on with the Titanic dis­as­ter and the myths sur­roun­ding its musi­ci­ans. The pie­ce expe­ri­ments with the for­mat of an immersi­ve pod­cast, explo­ring how dis­as­ters are pro­ces­sed musi­cal­ly and in popu­lar cul­tu­re. How is music used as a means of sur­vi­val and emo­tio­nal coping?

Blending ele­ments of a tra­di­tio­nal podcast—such as inter­views and discussions—with con­cert-like seg­ments, musi­cal ritu­als, and audi­ence inter­ac­tion, “SONGS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD” del­ves into the role of music in dark and uncer­tain times. The per­for­mance is both inti­ma­te and sin­ce­re, yet infu­sed with humor, offe­ring a reflec­ti­ve explo­ra­ti­on of music’s signi­fi­can­ce in moments of crisis.

The pie­ce invi­tes us to con­sider what music we would turn to in moments of fear and uncertainty—and what that music means to us on a per­so­nal level. Through inter­ac­ti­ve moments, the head­pho­ne con­cert repea­ted­ly poses the ques­ti­on:
What con­nects us to the music that accom­pa­nies us near the end? What memo­ries are tied to it, what does it mean to us, and what does our sel­ec­tion reve­al about who we are?
To deepen this explo­ra­ti­on, the audience’s per­so­nal music choices are incor­po­ra­ted into the flow of the con­cert itself.