June 1, 2019, LA Phil Fluxus Festival, Los Angeles
April 14, 2023, Opéra Berlioz Le Corum, Montpellier
July 1, 2024, Opéra Bastille, Paris
Photo:
Production de l’Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris
Réalisation Jules Bonnel
© Opéra national de Paris – 2024
Composed by David Lang for large public spaces, crowd out was reimagined in 2019 for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Fluxus Festival, produced by Nordstrum and directed by Chamblas at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. They approached the work as an environment rather than a staged concert, bringing 1,000 voices into the hall and dispersing them throughout balconies, aisles, and seating areas.
Singers and audience members shared the same space. The distinction between performer and listener dissolved as spoken, sung, and shouted text moved through the architecture like a single collective body. The hall became a living instrument shaped by breath, rhythm, and proximity.
Each successive presentation was built with local participants, forming a temporary community that reflected the scale and social texture of each city. After Los Angeles, the work traveled to Montpellier and Paris, adapting to new spaces while holding its core idea: that a crowd can become a score.
All photos:
© Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie;
Production de l’Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris
Réalisation Jules Bonnel
© Opéra national de Paris – 2024
© Los Angeles Philharmonic rehearsal