A Season on the Wind | Music for Migratory Birds | Santa Cruz

A Season on the Wind: A Cinematic Concert Celebrating Migratory Birds
May 24th, 7:30pm | Portuguese Hall of Santa Cruz
216 Evergreen St #2136, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Featuring Majel Connery and the Bowerbird Collective
Supported by the Center for Agroecology UCSC and the Portuguese Hall of Santa Cruz
with a performance of 'Rivers are our Brothers', a song cycle by Majel Connery

‘A Season on the Wind’ is a cinematic concert based on author, ornithologist and conservationist Kenn Kaufman’s book of the same name. This event is an inspiring ode to migratory birds, and an unforgettable night of musical storytelling. A musical and visual journey from the shores of Lake Erie across the Americas, this 50-minute performance stars three internationally acclaimed musicians, and features spectacular visuals and soundscapes. Created by the Bowerbird Collective, an award-winning Australian-based organization making art for nature, at the invitation of the Biggest Week in American Birding festival and Kenn Kaufman himself, the work features a newly commissioned score by the Brothers Balliett (NYC), whose music is praised by the New York Times as “vivid, emotive, with contemporary twists”.

Also featured on the program is 'Rivers are our Brothers', a song cycle by Majel Connery on ecological responsibility told from the point of view of the land. Commissioned by Musica Sierra and created in partnership with Learning Landscapes, an educational program of the Feather River Land Trust, the songs in the cycle take a first-person view of nature, ascribing human qualities and feelings to elements of the landscape: water, trees, mountains, rivers, etc. You can stream the cycle on Apple Music, Spotify or Bandcamp. 

Program:
'Rivers are our Brothers' song cycle (Majel Connery with The Bowerbird Collective) - 20 minutes
Intermission
A Season on the Wind (The Bowerbird Collective, Majel Connery, The Brothers Balliett) - 50 minutes

Performers:
Majel Connery | vocals, keyboard
with The Bowerbird Collective
Simone Slattery | violin, vocals
Anthony Albrecht | cello

About the artists:

Majel Connery is a composer, vocalist and musicologist combining Classical influences with electronic mentality. Her voice has been called "superb" by the New York Times and her compositions "thoroughly Schubertian" by the Wall Street Journal. An educator working at the intersection of arts and scholarship, she has taught and mounted productions on campuses like Stanford, UC Berkeley, Wellesley and Princeton. As an advocate of women in music, she hosts the NPR/CapRadio podcast A Music of Their Own. Connery appears regularly as a solo artist making supernatural music about the environment, and with her art-rock duo Sky Creature. Her song cycle The Rivers are our Brothers is currently on tour with Grammy-winning ensemble Chanticleer. Connery holds a PhD in musicology from the University of Chicago and an A.B. in music composition from Princeton.
www.majelconnery.com

The Bowerbird Collective makes art for nature. Through innovative live performance, digital engagement and educational outreach, this inspiring non-profit seeks to strengthen emotional connections to conservation issues. Australian-based, the Bowerbird Collective tours extensively, with a focus on performing in regional areas, delivers exceptional educational programs to school age children, and works with national and international conservation organizations. Founded by Simone Slattery (violin, vocals) and Anthony Albrecht (cello) in 2017, the Collective has produced more than 250 events across Australia, the UK and the US. Their concert production 'Where Song Began' was called 'spectacular' in a ***** review by Limelight Magazine and won a Ruby Award from Arts South Australia. ‘Life on Land’s Edge’, created with support from Arts South Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts, received the Independent Art Foundation Award for Innovation in 2022. Their albums of threatened bird, frog and mammal calls, 'Songs of Disappearance', have thrice made it to the top of Australia’s ARIA Album Charts ahead of Taylor Swift, ABBA, Ed Sheeran and Adele. They are founders and directors of the Moonbird Festival, King Island, Tasmania and the Lyrebird Festival, Megalong Valley, New South Wales, both launched in 2023.
www.bowerbirdcollective.org