Music by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe
Libretto by Deborah Artman
Film by Bill Morrison, Projections by Laurie Olinder
Performed by musikFabrik and trio mediæval
Conducted by Brad Lubman
Directed by Bob McGrath

BAM Harvey Theater
Nov 16—19 at 7:30pm
Tickets: $20, 30, 40, 45
Apx. 65min, no intermission

BAMdialogue with Bob McGrath, Bill Morrison, & Laurie Olinder
Nov 17 at 6pm
BAM Rose Cinemas
($8; $4 for Friends of BAM)
› BAMdialogue Tickets


The culmination of a three-year relationship between BAM and composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, Shelter mines the myriad connotations of the work’s title—physical structures, intimate personal exchanges, a metaphoric home for our beliefs—ultimately questioning whether what we build can protect us against the destructive power of the world around us.

Embraced by BAM audiences for their exuberant, cross-genre Bang on a Can marathon concerts and stirring, large-scale collaborative projects, The New Yorkers and Lost Objects, the composers have conceived Shelter on a more intimate level and for the first time are working within the architecturally resonant BAM Harvey Theater. Created with librettist Deborah Artman (Lost Objects) and New York’s Ridge Theater, Shelter features haunting visuals by Laurie Olinder and filmmaker Bill Morrison (Decasia), direction by Bob McGrath (The Death of Klinghoffer, BAM 2003), and searing performances by the German new music ensemble musikFabrik and the ethereal Scandinavian vocalists trio mediæval. This is a powerful, unflinching work from the ceaselessly inventive Gordon, Lang, and Wolfe.

Lighting design by Matt Frey
Sound design by Jakob Palfdrader
Set by Jim Findlay
Costumes by Ruth Pongstaphone

Co-Commissioned by BAM, musikFabrik NRW, and Kunststiftung NRW.

Photos: Klaus Rudolph and Laurie Olinder