Eve Beglarian's New Chorale Work, "Building the Bird Mound,” to Debut April 18 in NYC

Drawing on materials from her epic voyage down the Mississippi River, Eve Beglarian's new musical piece, "Building the Bird Mound," will debut on April 18 in a performance by the Voices of Ascension at the Church of the Ascension at 5th Avenue and 10th Street in New York City.

An article about the work for chorus and organ appeared on the church's website. It provided this background on Beglarian's production:

Two years ago Voices of Ascension’s music director Dennis Keene commissioned composer Eve Beglarian to write a work for chorus and organ, set to a spiritual text. In 2009 Beglarian had set off on a 4-month kayak trip the length of the Mississippi River, to collect sounds, songs, spiritual inspiration from the great river and from people along the way. WestView News interviewed Beglarian in her West Village apartment to learn about “Building the Bird Mound”, a 15 minute composition which came out of what she calls her “River Project”. 

Beglarian relates that she took prize money she had won to finance the kayak trip down the river, starting in Minnesota in August 2009, sleeping at campsites along the way. When she reached Mississippi and visited an ancient Native American site there, she was strongly advised by an acquaintance to visit Poverty Point, Louisiana, the site of the prehistoric “Bird Mound”. This large earthwork in the form of a giant bird with outspread wings is believed to date to at least 1500 BCE. Paleontologists consider it a gathering place for a hunter/gatherer people, rather than a settlement by an agricultural community. The importance of the mysterious site is rising as excavation proceeds— this year the U.S. requested a World Heritage designation by UNESCO.

Tickets for the premiere are available at 212-358-7060.