NAGASAKI – Wilderness Mute is a collaborative multidisciplinary work, involving music, image, poetry and Butoh dance, inspired by the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The work aims to raise awareness about the dangers of a new nuclear escalation on a worldwide level, in light of the current international political and military tensions. Nuclear attacks and nuclear disasters, those past and those looming today, have devastating environmental effects on a global level, impacting directly on our lives and those of future generations. The work speaks of the dehumanization and irreversible damage caused to planet Earth, our global home, forcing us to consider all decisions about nuclear armament, politics, and power.

Composed by the internationally renowned and award-winning musician, Keiko Fujiie, Wilderness Mute is based on the poetic text of Hayashi Kyoko and draws from the firsthand accounts of victims of the bombing.

Fujiie developed the score for chamber orchestra and chorus. The performance at Antioch College will be performed with six voices and piano. Dancer, Orland Verdú, founder the Oracles Theatre in Barcelona (a global creator of scenic arts), will accompany the musical and visual portions of the piece with Butoh (dance of darkness), choreographed by Antioch alumnus Abel Coelho ’04. Coelho was one of Fujiie’s lead collaborators and the two were planning to bring the work to Antioch College before he passed away in December 2017. Open to the public.