Anchoring in large cities and small towns, in busy shipping lanes and at public parks, the barge opens like a clamshell to reveal a glittering concert stage. Audiences on shore delight in the music, much of it specially composed for Maestro Boudreau and his American Wind Symphony Orchestra — The NY Review of Books
Louis Kahn was commissioned to design Point Counterpoint II, a unique floating concert hall, by conductor Robert Austin Boudreau in the mid 1960s. Launched in 1976, the 195-foot structure carried an orchestra up and down America's waterways for five decades. Robert Boudreau and his wife, Kathleen, have recently decided that they cannot keep running the barge. At the conclusion of the Orchestra's 2017 tour, it will be broken down to scrap in a Louisiana shipyard—despite the owner's best efforts to find a new guardian for the unique, mobile cultural institution.
Yo-Yo Ma, a French-born Chinese American cellist, recently wrote about his admiration for Point Counterpoint II, in hopes to find a new home for it, "While Point Counterpoint II might lack the solidity and repose that Martin Filler so eloquently attributes to Kahn’s buildings, it is no less monumental: it sails as a powerful, living testament to American creativity and to the elemental role that culture plays in human life.
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At a time when our national conversation is so often focused on division, we can ill afford to condemn to the scrap heap such a vibrant ambassador for our national unity, so I humbly ask that your readers join Robert and me in finding a new home for Point Counterpoint II. Please share any suggestions with Robert and Kathleen at awso@consolidated.net."
2 Comments
MAPA to action!
Why am I only now aware of this floating concert hall barge?
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