EN MASSE
An Immersive Live Music Activation by Daniel Bernard Roumain
EN MASSE
An Immersive Live Music Activation with Composer / Violinist/Educator Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
Conceptualized and directed by DBR, EN MASSE is an immersive musical experience for variable instrumentation, scalable ensemble size, and performance length. Adaptable for ensembles between 5 and 500 musicians from string quartets to marching bands, EN MASSE is designed to work in both large public spaces (squares, stadiums, parks) as well as contained spaces (theaters, warehouses), and can last anywhere between 30 minutes to an entire day.
Commissioned by the Mitchell Center for the University of Houston “Spirit of Houston” Marching Band, EN MASSE was created as a “deconstructed parade” with music direction by DBR. The band members took over Houston’s public park “Discovery Green,” creating a cross between a flash mob and a pep rally, a processional and pop-up recital.
The creation process for EN MASSE is intended to involve multiple local community organizations, and student and professional musical ensembles, and takes place over the course of two visits by DBR during which he offers workshops, masterclasses and coaching sessions to empower youth and build community. The culminating activation of EN MASSE for the larger public is the result of a dynamic collaboration between DBR, local artists and the hosting organization.
To date, EN MASSE has been successfully mounted in Houston, TX; Fairfield, CT; Providence, RI; and Portland, ME. Contact us to start planning EN MASSE in your community!
ABOUT DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN (DBR)
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a Black, Haitian-American composer who sees composing as collaboration with artists, organizations and communities within the farming and framing of ideas. He is a prolific and endlessly collaborative composer, performer, educator, and social entrepreneur. “About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (New York Times), Roumain has worked with artists from J’Nai Bridges, Lady Gaga and Philip Glass to Bill T. Jones, Marin Alsop and Anna Deavere Smith.
Known for his signature violin sounds infused with myriad electronic and African-American music influences, Roumain takes his genre-bending music beyond the proscenium. He is a composer of solo, chamber, orchestral, and operatic works, and has composed an array of film, theater, and dance scores. He has composed music for the acclaimed film Ailey (Sundance official selection); was the first Music Director and Principal Composer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; released and appeared on 30 album recordings; and has published over 300 works. He has appeared on CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC, NPR, and PBS; and has collaborated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Sydney Opera House. He was Artist-in-Residence and Creative Chair at the Flynn in Burlington, Vermont. Currently, he is the first Artistic Ambassador with Firstworks; the first Artist Activist-in-Residence at Longy School of Music; and the first Resident Artistic Catalyst with the New Jersey Symphony.
Roumain is an Atlantic Center Master Artist, a Creative Capital Grantee, and a Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellow. He has won the American Academy in Rome Goddard Lieberson Fellowship; a Civitella Ranieri Music Fellowship Award; an Emmy Award for The New Look of Classical Music; National Sawdust Disruptor Award; and the Sphinx Organization Arthur L. Johnson Award. He has been featured as a keynote speaker at universities, colleges, conservatories and technology conferences, and was the first ASU GAMMAGE Residency Artist. He has lectured at Yale and Princeton University and was a Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. He currently serves as a board member for the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (Vice Chair), the League of American Orchestras, and is a voting member for the Recording Academy GRAMMY awards.
A student of William Albright, Leslie Bassett, and William Bolcom, Roumain graduated from Vanderbilt University and earned his doctorate in music composition from the University of Michigan. He is currently a tenured Associate and Institute Professor at Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
