Justine F. Chen, Shallow Breath and Stealth (world premiere)
Nicholas Cline, Watersheds
Gabriel Kahane, excerpt from We are the Saints (East Coast premiere)
David Lang, we were (world premiere) & the sense of senses
with Matthew Levy, tenor saxophone
Sunday, November 21, 2021 @ 5pm
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia
Pre-concert talk with Donald, Justine, and Nick at 4pm in the Burleigh Cruikshank Memorial Chapel
Meet the composers at a post-concert reception in Widener Hall
Please note: Masks and proof of vaccination are required to attend "Motion Studies." Masks must be worn at all times while indoors at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. Vaccination card will be checked by front of house staff prior to entry into the Sanctuary. The choir will sing unmasked.
* * *
"Wherever we are, we leave a trace:
trackable data reveals and betrays us."
A concert of premieres digging deep into 21st-century American life. Justine’s Shallow Breath and Stealth is based on Jena Osman’s prismatic poem Motion Studies, which follows a couple hoping to shake off spiderwebs of data to live surveillance-free in a world that accepts the ubiquitous surveillance of unwilling citizens. Sax legend, Matthew Levy, joins us for Nick’s Watersheds, a work fueled by the words of eloquent, outspoken environmental thinkers on how our shared spaces are created not by political borders, but by the flow of water. Tying the program together is the East Coast premiere of the final movement of Gabriel Kahane's We are the Saints (considering our relationship to nature and connecting with Nick's work), as well as two commissioned works from David Lang based on his ongoing, deeply introspective ruminations on The Song of Songs – all three written for The Crossing.
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