Music
Black Mountain Songs
Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Choral director and conductor Dianne Berkun-Menaker
Created by Bryce Dessner
Co-curated by Bryce Dessner & Richard Reed Parry
Directed by Maureen Towey
Music by Jherek Bischoff, Bryce Dessner, Tim Hecker, John King, Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Parry, Caroline Shaw, and Aleksandra Vrebalov
Choreographed by Jenny Shore Butler
At North Carolina’s Black Mountain College, erstwhile commune and artistic playground of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg[1] and many others[2], a spirit of radical democracy prevailed. Students and teachers shared roles and work, boundaries between disciplines dissolved, and art bled into life, nurturing an atmosphere of unfettered creative collaboration.
In Black Mountain Songs, performed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, commissioned and produced by BAM and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and curated by Bryce Dessner and Richard Reed Parry, that collective thread is renewed. Eight composers—Dessner, Parry, Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Aleksandra Vrebalov, John King, Tim Hecker, and Jherek Bischoff—collaborate with filmmaker Matt Wolf (Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell) to create an expansive choral and visual work that celebrates and rekindles Black Mountain’s utopian spirit.
Film design by Matt Wolf
Set design by Mimi Lien
Costume Design by Sarah Maiorino
Lighting Design by Ben Stanton
Sound design by Jamie McElhinney
Video & projection design by Grant McDonald
Co-commissioned by BAM and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Save 20% on 4—6 shows, 30% on 7 or more. Plus enjoy flexible scheduling with free exchanges.
The Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus is one of the country’s leading youth ensembles.
Bryce Dessner is a Brooklyn-based composer, guitarist, and curator.
