Location
Sierra Valley Nature Centre
495 Beckwourth-Calpine Road (Co. Road A23)
Beckwourth, CA 96129
Time
Thursday, 22nd of May - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Performers:
Majel Connery - vocals
The Bowerbird Collective – Simone Slattery, violin and vocals, Anthony Albrecht, cello
The Bowerbird Collective, an award-winning classical duo all the way from Australia, proudly presents ‘A Season on the Wind’ in partnership with Musica Sierra, in Beckwourth, CA on May 22 at 7.00pm. The cinematic concert 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 performance stars three internationally acclaimed, virtuoso musicians - Majel Connery (vocals), Simone Slattery (violin) and Anthony Albrecht (cello) - and features spectacular visuals and soundscapes.
'A Season on the Wind' was created by The Bowerbird Collective, an award-winning Australian-based organization making art for nature, and was first performed in the US at the invitation of the Biggest Week in American Birding festival and Kenn Kaufman, author of the book that inspired the work. It features a captivating, newly commissioned score by The Brothers Balliett (NYC), whose music is praised as “vivid, emotive, with contemporary twists”.
Also featured on the program is 'The 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, and rivers.
The Bowerbird Collective and Majel Connery bring this performance to audiences across the West Coast (UT and CA) throughout May 2025. Full details and bookings are available via
https://bowerbirdcollective.org/a-season-on-the-wind/
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 ensemble seeks to strengthen emotional connections to conservation issues. Australian-based, the Bowerbird Collective tours extensively, with a focus on performing in regional areas, delivering exceptional educational programs to school age children, and working with national and international conservation organizations. Founded in 2017 by Simone Slattery (violin, vocals, PhD, ANAM) and Anthony Albrecht (cello, Juilliard MM), 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.
