(rain date Saturday, July 31. 9:00pm)
The Caldwell Catalogue of visible galaxies, nebulae and star clusters was compiled by Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore and published in 1995 as a complement to the famous Messier catalogue. Unlike this catalogue, which only includes celestial bodies visible from Messier's viewing location in Europe, the Caldwell catalogue contains 109 deep-sky objects visible in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
VOICING THE CALDWELLS will reveal a unique vocal signature for each featured object with a live electronic music score and a simultaneous live projected video mix produced by Cliff Baldwin, in this premier performance! In giving voice to these magnificent celestial wonders, the audience is invited to sonically experience each galaxy’s essence and personality.
This concert will take place outdoors beneath the North Fork’s summer night sky!
Cliff Baldwin is a resident composer, sculptor and filmmaker on the North Fork and has been creating electronic music for over 45 years. His premier performance of "The Music of the Sun and Mars", performed in the summer of 2020 at Custer Observatory, was received with rave reviews.
Cliff is the founder of the Aquebogue Contemporary Music Ensemble [ACME], a group devoted to contemporary electronic music, who was featured in the Rites of Spring Music Festival from 2016-2019 on the North Fork of Long Island. Some of his compositions include "The Kepler Music" which was performed at Custer Observatory during the first series of The Rites Music Festival in 2016 and "Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Tierkreis, the Music of the Zodiac" which was performed in the 2019 Festival series.
As an artist, Cliff founded the large format artist publication AQUI! in the early nineteen eighties working with artists like Barbara Kruger, Gilbert & George, Les Levine and General Idea. For 17 years he orchestrated large scale installations and created multiples with Fluxus artist Davi Det Hompson as the artist duo Baldwin+Hompson.
Cliff's work has been exhibited in Tokyo, Cologne, Berlin, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and New York, and is in several major museum collections around the world including collections at the The Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center, The Museum of The Art Institute of Chicago, The National Gallery of Canada and The Museum of Rhode Island School of Design.
His giant urban video installation "I Love Richmond and Richmond Loves Me" premiered at Richmond’s InLight Festival in 2010. He created "The Language of Light", a live urban projection exhibited at InLight Festival/Richmond in 2012 and performed it at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY in 2015. His pavillion, House of FUBB was shown at The Center for New Art at William Paterson College in 2017 along with his suite The Kepler Music.
Following the concert, guests will have a chance to view the Caldwell objects, visible to the naked eye or with the use of binoculars or a telescope (feel free to bring your own). Observatory staff will also provide guided tours of the night sky (weather permitting) through the many telescopes on site, including the apochromatic Zerochromat telescope in our historic observation dome.
$30 Adult, $20 Observatory Member , Children Under 16 FREE. Attendance to this in-person performance will be limited and restrictions in place per NYS COVID-19 guidelines required at the time of the event. Due to the outdoor nature of this show, a rain date is scheduled for July 31 at 9:00pm.
Please bring a blanket or chair to enjoy this outdoor presentation.