FOREST SONG

Forest Song premiered October 13-15, 2023 in Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan New York, NY.

Download a pdf of the Forest Song program / Listen to a version of the premiere performances at the bandcamp page: https://johnphastings.bandcamp.com/album/forest-song

Forest Song is a free music performance that takes place in a forested setting. Musicians are spread throughout the forest, performing a variety of sonic materials. Harmonies are reflected, words appear, and the melodies from revolutionary hymns are re-cycled, all conjuring a human and arboreal conversation. A Forest Song gathers everyone together over distance, a unitary statement that underscores the fundamental relationships that foster all our existences in this world. Over the course of an hour performance, the audience is free to wander the park, to hear the musicians at a distance, while also observing them close-by.

Myths and stories swirl around our forests, some of them fanciful and fantastic, others feed into age-old tropes of colonial settlement. They have been many things to humans: a source of fuel, shelter, fear. They are a place of mystery and repose. Forest Song takes these many iterations of human conception of the forest to fashion a poly-narrative: a Native American home, a European folk drama, a technocratic “shelterbelt”, and now a conserved piece of our future. Forests are a mirror for humans: the reflection of our wants and desires throughout our years of existence.

featuring
TILT Brass: Christopher McIntyre - trombone, James Rogers - trombone, Nicolee Kuester - horn, Blair Hamrick - horn, Rebecca Steinberg - trumpet, Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
with
Iván Barenboim - clarinet
Katie Porter - clarinet
Jessica Schmitz - flute
Eva Ding - flute
Casey Anderson - saxophone

The Team:
John P. Hastings - originator
Aaron Meicht - music director, trumpet
Carolina Gomez - costuming
Benjamin Mayock - design
Shannon Sindelar - producer
Michelle Tabnick - PR (contact)

Forest Song was supported in the first performances by

This project is made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement , a regrant program supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council , and administered by LMCC. This project is made possible in part with funds from UMEZ Arts Engagement, a regrant program supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), and administered by LMCC.

And by: The Hastings Brothers (Jack, Jim, and Joseph), Laura Steenberge, Deke Shipp, Caroline Travers, Matthew Westerby, Michael Kane, Chris Cassidy, Doug Barrett, Jenny Wong, Nate Palan, and Ian Crovisier. Thank you all!!