THURSDAY 20TH MARCH 2025 | 7pm | £8 ADV / £5 CONCS

"It's now obviously urgent that we find a way back into balance with nature that observes, respects and integrates us into what we have left of the natural world. It's great to see and listen to David Rothenberg's work, harnessing science and music to point out the path of potential dialogue with the natural world and all the wonderful creatures within it."

—Peter Gabriel

In Secret Sounds of Ponds, environmental musician, philosopher and ecopoet David Rothenberg tosses a microphone into a pond and we witness an entirely new realm: the unexpected and stirring rhythms of some of the smallest and loudest creatures on Earth. Recording the songs of the animals and plants inhabiting each pond reveals a different perspective than what we meet in our human society. Each pond brings us closer to a new understanding of the non-human world that we share.

Rothenberg has previously investigated, recorded, and collaborated with the music of birds and whales. Now he writes, "Having heard the pond, I want to join the pond, making music no one species could make alone." His energizing and technological research combines with a musician's and poet's creative aptitude as he discovers the orchestration of ecosystems, uncovering new connections lurking beneath the silent surface.

At the Rose Hill in Brighton he reveals these local secrets in the UK for the first time - join us for a concert and conversation that will tune you in to the unexpected acoustic delights of our tiny freshwater friends.

Musician and philosopher David Rothenberg wrote Why Birds Sing, Bug Music, Survival of the Beautiful, Nightingales in Berlin and many other books, published in at least eleven languages. His two previous books of poetry are Blue Cliff Record: Zen Echoes and Invisible Mountains. His last book was Whale Music. He has more than forty recordings out, including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House with Marilyn Crispell on ECM, and most recently Just Leave It All Behind and Homayoun. He has performed or recorded with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Gabriel, Ray Phiri, Suzanne Vega, Scanner, Elliott Sharp, Iva Bittova, and the Karnataka College of Percussion. Rothenberg is a Distinguished Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Brought to you by Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, Lost Property and Sound Art Brighton