Sounds Delicious
Come to a potluck meet-and-greet with visiting artist Matthew Burtner
The Elberta Labor Heritage Center invites you to a potluck dinner at Elberta’s best church, Elberta United Methodist on Lincoln Ave., this Wednesday from 6 pm to 8 pm, for a truly unique, nowhere-else experience: hear the voice of the Betsie River, straight from her own mouth.
I didn’t make it to the recording session on Saturday, but I saw those who did returning to the Heritage Center afterward, as well as Matthew himself with his enormous and fuzzy-ended boom mic, and they were in awe at what they had heard speaking from the water and the water’s edge. You’re in for a treat, foodwise and earwise.
Here’s some more information about and photos from Matthew Burtner’s visit among us and Saturday’s workshop, provided by Arlene Sweeting.
Last year the Elberta Labor Heritage Center (ELHC) was awarded a $5,500 GIG Fund grant from Arts Midwest to support a 2026 artist residency featuring internationally recognized composer, sound artist, and eco-acoustician Matthew Burtner. A pioneer of musical ecoacoustics—a practice that integrates environmental energy into musical forms—Burtner has been recognized for crafting “totally unique, compelling music that is directly influenced by the natural world” (New Music Box). During his three-week residency, Burtner immersed himself in our local environment and composed a piece entitled, “Estuary and Crossing”. Ultimately, through his work, Burtner seeks to deepen community connection to the natural world, demonstrating how music can foster care, attentiveness, and dialogue between people and their environment.
The kickoff for the residency was “An Evening with Matthew Burtner” at the Garden Theater on April 29th. Matthew engaged in conversation with Peter Payette, Executive Director of IPR, and shared samples of his previous work. He also engaged the audience in a performance of his piece “Mists”.
As they entered the Theater, audience members selected stones to use in the community performance of Burtner’s composition “Mists”. They also identified special places in Benzie County that Matthew could visit to conduct field recordings.
Matthew visited a Music Production and Engineering class at Interlochen Arts Academy and talked about his life and work, sharing some of his local field recordings with them. The students were curious about his ideas and methods. One asked about ultrasonic sound and he did a test where that student was able to hear sounds in excess of 20 khz to the delight of his classmates.
Matthew also hosted a local workshop on Betsie Bay where participants were introduced to field recording and deep listening skills. The conclusion of the workshop was a performance of the new piece “Estuary and Crossing” played across the estuary through car radios (thanks to WUWU!) Watching the reaction of the birds to the piece was fascinating. One observer said even the fish came to the surface to check it out!
Workshop participants listening to sounds on the Betsie Valley Trail.
Throughout the residency Matthew has been updating the community on his progress on WUWU-LPFM 100.1. You can catch his final interview with Gretchen Carr Wednesday morning at 10am. Remember if you can’t receive the broadcast signal, you can stream WUWU at WUWUradio.org or download the mobile app on your phone.
Dave Beaton and Matthew Burtner discuss the residency on air at WUWU Community Radio.
The conclusion of the residency will be a potluck and community listening session this Wednesday, May 13th from 6-8pm at the Elberta United Methodist Church. The potluck will begin at 6pm - please bring a dish to share. At 7pm, Matthew will share his new composition “Estuary and Crossing” in the church sanctuary. Come and hear the estuary sing!
Matthew’s residency was supported in part by Arts Midwest and the National Endowment for the Arts. Local partners included Sawbill Surf Club, Interlochen Public Radio, and The Garden Theater.