Music of the Birds (2020)
For string quart children choir and tape
A collaboration between Kronos Quartet, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, San Francisco Girls Chorus, and Sirkhe Social Circus School
We are all different birds! All our birds' songs are important but they only form a tiny particle of life existing on our planet earth. Let’s hope for all the songs of life to remain and to be preserved. The seven bird songs, imitated by young artists and professional biologists, are curated in collaboration with The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History scholars, Kronos Quartet, San Francisco Girls Chorus and Sirkhane Social Circus School, a circus organization on the Turkish Syrian border dedicated to children affected by conflicts and war. The seven types of birds are selected as an homage to seven valleys of love depicted in the 12th-century Persian poetic masterpiece, “The Conference of the Birds.” Let’s listen to the Music of the Birds and momentarily connect with ourselves again through the alchemy of nature, music and magic.