AGENT|OBJECT|PLACE|USE is an orchestral work based on transcriptions of field recordings made especially for the piece of the New York City Port Authority Bus Terminal. The work was composed as part of a study of music and sound's role in public urban spaces and was almost entirely written in the Bus Terminal itself. These transcriptions focus on the quiet, 'ambient', 'unnoticeable' sounds of this space. Mixed in with the busy sounds of commuters are traces of orchestral background music, piped into the bus terminal by the Port Authority Police Department to help remove loiterers and houseless people who rely on the terminal for shelter. The work turns the orchestra into its own form of crowd through performative aspects, and returns this 'background' music to its source, calling into question the orchestra's relationship with space and the public.
