PERFORMANCES (each performance is about an hour long)
Saturday, October 14, 2023: 2pm & 4pm
Sunday, October 15, 2023: 1pm & 3pm
Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan, New York: A to Inwood / 207 or 1 to 215th St. Enter at Shorakkopoch Rock (Google Maps)

Forest Song is a free musical performance that takes place in the last, original site of Pre-Columbian Mannahatta: Inwood Hill Park. Nestled within a valley, near ancient glacial potholes, caves, and cold springs, 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 and layers them on top of one another 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.

The Team:
John P. Hastings – originator
Aaron Meicht – music director, trumpet
Carolina Gomez – costuming
Benjamin Mayock – design
Shannon Sindelar – producer

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
and others TBA

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.