< Back

Steve Parker:
SAnctus
Sonic Meditations for Marching Band

Sound Installation + Performance

Sanctus (2021) is a sanctuary for birds and people. The copper sculpture plays four liturgical psalms written by Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century abbess and polymath whose work explored the healing potential of sound. These psalms resonate through the five brass bells of the sculpture, which are then refracted by the attached parabolic dishes. Embedded in the sculpture is a series of concrete acoustic mirrors, which were WWII surveillance devices used before the invention of radar. In this work, they have been repurposed as makeshift bird feeders.

Sonic Meditations for Marching Band (2024) is a collaborative work for Texas Marching Band who performed Steve Parker’s Sonic Meditations in public space. The project draws from legacies of sonic healing and the Deep Listening practice of Pauline Oliveros.

Bio

Steve Parker is an artist, musician, and organizer based in Austin, Texas. He creates social sculptures—large-scale performances that facilitate meaningful exchanges between the public, sculptural objects, and the environment. His projects include an outdoor opera for 1.5 million bats, a megaphone choir, and transportation symphonies for pedicabs and bicycles, as well as sonic healing meditations performed by NCAA marching bands. His work often transforms viewers into performers, encouraging new forms of listening.

Parker has received prestigious awards, including the Rome Prize and the Pollock-Krasner Award, along with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Currently, he is a McKnight Visiting Composer with the American Composers Forum. In 2025, he will serve as a Fulbright Scholar at National Taiwan University's Graduate School of Musicology. His exhibitions and performances have been showcased at venues such as the American Academy in Rome and Lincoln Center Festival. He is also the Executive Director of Collide Arts and an Associate Professor at UTSA.