As an online Live Event for the 50th International Earth Day, BIOTOPIA's founding director Michael John Gorman spoke with soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause about his fascinating work.
During the current Covid-19 lockdown, our cities have become eerily silent, allowing us to reconnect with the sounds of nature. After working with big name music acts such as The Doors, the Weavers, George Harrison and other music legends as a pioneer with the Moog synthesizer, legendary sound artist and bioacoustician Bernie Krause switched his attention to the sounds of nature. To date he has recorded over 15,000 species on over 5,000 hours of tape, culminating in his Great Animal Orchestra. Michael John Gorman, director of the new BIOTOPIA museum in development in Munich interviewed Bernie Krause about the importance of experiencing biodiversity through the ears, and how tuning into the dawn chorus can alert us to the consequences of climate change, urbanization and deforestation.