BAM to Celebrate Meredith Monk's 50th Season with ON BEHALF OF NATURE, 12/3-7

Building on her rich BAM legacy and presented as part of her 50th season, Meredith Monk offers the NY premiere of her newest music-theater work, On Behalf of Nature, a mesmerizing hymn to compassion. Inspired by the Buddhist conception of oneness and poet Gary Snyder's idea of the artist as "spokesperson for non-human entities," On Behalf of Nature reaffirms our indissoluble connection to the natural realm.

On Behalf of Nature premiered to critical acclaim in January 2013 at UCLA. Moving collectively around a bare stage, eight performers intone a beguiling polyphony of sounds, suggesting a world in which the material, the spiritual, and the human coexist as a harmonious interdependent whole.

In addition to Monk, performers include: Sidney Chen, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Bruce Rameker, Allison Sniffin (voices); Bohdan Hilash (winds); John Hollenbeck (percussion), and Allison Sniffin (keyboards, violin, and French horn).

In keeping with the work's ecological ethos, Yoshio Yabara fashions costumes from the cast's old clothes, which inherently suggest the performers' personal histories.

Photo by Julieta Cervantes