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48 | NOVEMBER 25 • 2021 

western Alaska visited by mil-
lions of birds that migrate each 
spring to that biome from as far 
away as South Africa and New 
Zealand, a journey over vast 
expanses of land and water that 
covers 56,000 miles round trip.
“Bernie Krause’s work teaches 
us that each animal species pos-
sesses its own acoustic animal 
signature that, like a musical 
instrument in an orchestra, 
positions itself both with pre-
cision and subtlety within the 
score of the soundscape of the 
ecosystem in which it lives,
” 
said Hervé Chandès, curator 
who worked on the exhibit 
introduced in France as com-
missioned by the Foundation 

Cartier pour l’art contemporain.
Krause, who tells his story in 
a Ted Talk readily accessible on 
the web, has information avail-
able for those who can’t travel 
to the current display. There are 
relevant sites to Google and a 
readership opportunity through 
the book The Great Animal 
Orchestra: Finding the Origins 
of Music in the World’s Wild 
Places (Little, Brown).

A LIFETIME LOVE 
OF SOUND
“I don’t see very well so my 
world has been informed 
more by what I hear,
” Krause 
explained about his career 
origins. “I was fascinated with 

the music guitars could pro-
duce and studied jazz with Joe 
Messina and classical with Joe 
Fava.
”
In the transition to the 
sounds of nature, Krause pro-
duced more than 50 natural 
soundscape albums in addition 
to the design of interactive 
sound sculptures for respected 
presenters. Among the places 
showcasing his installations 
are the National Museum of 
Natural History in Washington, 
D.C., the Houston Museum 
of Natural Science and the 
Chicago Science Museum. 
Part of bringing his work into 
the 21st century, Krause col-
laborated with Dr. Stuart Gage 

at Michigan State University to 
introduce the soundscape ecol-
ogy and the value of exploring 
natural soundscapes for the 
National Park Service. 
“I love what I do, and I have 
found a way to share the love 
of that work with others,
” said 
Krause, who grew up mostly 
terrified of animals because of 
allergies and a confrontation 
with ADHD (attention deficit 
hyperactivity disorder). 
“That said, I’ve been attacked 
by a polar bear when camping 
and recording bowhead whales 
on the shore of the Beaufort Sea 
early in my bioacoustic studies. 
In the Amazon jungle late one 
night, I was stalked by a jaguar, 

ARTS&LIFE
EXHIBIT

Details 
“The Great Animal Orchestra” 
is on display Nov. 20-May 
22 at the Peabody Essex 
Museum in Salem, Mass. 
$12-$20. (866) 745-1976. 
pem.org. To access website 
videos, go to www.pem.org/
exhibitions/the-great-animal-
orchestra-bernie-krause-and-
united-visual-artists.
Bernie Krause works in the fields to 
capture the sounds of nature.

The exhibits present specific soundscapes and 
associated spectrograms (graphic visualizations 
of what is heard).

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