THE rivers are our brothers
The Rivers are our Brothers is a song cycle on ecological responsibility told from the point of view of the land. Each song in the cycle takes on a first-person view of nature, ascribing human qualities and feelings to elements of the landscape: trees, mountains, and rivers. The title of the cycle is based on an apocryphal quote from the Native American leader, Chief Seattle, who believed we must relate to our environment as we relate to our closest kin.
Rivers has been toured and recorded by Grammy-winning choir, Chanticleer, and by Connery in various electro-acoustic collaborations for voice and other instruments. She is currently creating and workshopping SATB arrangements of the cycle for a select cohort of choirs. (Inquire for details.)
"The goal of this music is to give nature a voice —to allow these vibrant things to speak on their own behalf.”
The Rivers are our Brothers was commissioned by Musica Sierra, an organization in the Sierra Valley teaching kids better land stewardship through the power of music. It was first performed as a trio for voice, violin and bassoon (Majel Connery with Edwin Huizinga and Ben Matus), and has since been toured as a duo with cellist Felix Fan and as a trio for violin, cello and voice (Bowerbird Collective).
"I’m an electronic composer. And using a vocal synthesizer might seem like a weird choice in songs that are about nature. But these synthetic sounds have the paradoxically ability to take on the otherworldly voices in nature: the voice of snow, a cloud, or a tree.”
The adorable audience in Downieville, CA.
The Rivers are our Brothers premiered at the Sky Room at the Nevada Museum of Art, and has since been performed at dozens of institutions around the world including most recently the Crocker Museum of Art (Sacramento), The Exploratorium (San Francisco), BAMPFA (Berkeley), Chapel of the Chimes (Oakland), Wave Hill Arboretum (Bronx), St. John’s College (Annapolis), Rowan College (NJ), and a series of jazz clubs in Italy.