Bright Threads
Wednesday, June 10, 7 pm
Monroe Community College Theatre
Bldg. 4, Brighton Campus
1000 E Henrietta Rd.
Rochester, NY 14623
(Parking in Lot F)
Thursday, June 11, 7 pm
Monroe Community College Theatre
Bldg. 4, Brighton Campus
1000 E Henrietta Rd.
Rochester, NY 14623
(Parking in Lot F)
Mount Hope World Singers (MHWS), in collaboration with local instrumentalists/composers Ken Luk, Leah Ou, and Alyssa Rodriguez, is thrilled to present a one-hour, immersive experience of musical healing. This collaboration draws on and reinterprets global historical examples of music as medicine, creating a transformative new work focused on common humanity and emphasizing healing connection. Annika Bentley (MHWS Artistic Director), Ken Luk, Leah Ou, and Alyssa Rodriguez have each composed new music for this project, in addition to selecting works from the world song traditions /instruments that each contributor specializes in.
Bright Threads features Swedish Nyckelharpa, Zimbabwean Mbira, Chinese Pipa, and selected choral music from around the world. Key reference materials include Healing Songs by Ted Gioia, The Soul of Mbira by Paul Berliner, and I Heard There was a Secret Chord by Daniel Levitin. The project favors explorations of chant and euphoric rhythms in addition to lyrical and thematic content about illness and healing. Types of healing explored will include body, mind, spirit, family, community, nature, intercultural connection, and the world at large.
Both performances will be ASL interpreted and will be followed by a reception. There will be latex-free balloons available, enabling audience members to feel sonic vibrations with their hands.
We hope you will join us!
This project is funded in part by Amber Light International: an inclusive, interdisciplinary approach to spirituality without dogma or religion.
This project is made possible in part by funds through the Rochester Area Community Foundation; by funds through the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts’ Aid to Localities program; and by funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of The Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts.
This project is also funded in part by the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation Arts & Culture Initiative administered by Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo in partnership with Rochester Area Community Foundation. The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Arts & Culture Initiative was established at the Community Foundation to support arts and culture in the eight counties of Western New York, plus Monroe County, in recognition of the key role arts and culture organizations play in a thriving economy. Part of that announcement includes $500,000 in annual funding to be awarded primarily to support small to mid-sized arts and culture organizations in the nine counties.