( ( ( cocktail party effect ) ) ) is a performance installation series intended for large social functions, a series of fun, surprising and entertaining interventions appear from, and disappear quickly into the crowd.
Audio Waiters premiered as a ‘guerilla performance’ in 1999 during the intermission of a NUMUS concert in Waterloo. The central themes explored in this work included the use of music in restaurants, fine dining as a theatrical experience, the mass consumption of music (disguised as hors d’oeuvres) by pre-occupied listeners engaged in the larger social context of music concerts, and a consideration of the ‘service staff’ role which working musicians have typically found themselves playing in Western societies throughout history.
Inter Arts Matrix has presented ( ( ( cocktail party effect ) ) ) in many unusual venues, including the National Ballet of Canada Galas (2008-2009) and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Fundraisers (2008-2009).
Performed by:
Pam Patel, soprano
Margaret Báardos, mezzo soprano
Michael Donovan, baritone
Jamie Hofman, baritone
Donovan Locke, tuba, multi-instrumentalist
Richard C. Windeyer 