Mile-Long Opera Launches Community Engagement Events Across NYC's Five Boroughs
By: Julie Musbach Aug. 28, 2018
The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o'clock, the project bringing together 1,000 singers from across New York City for five free, ambitious choral performances on the High Line,today announces a schedule of community engagement events leading up to and surrounding its October 2018 premiere. This programming has been organized both by Peoplmovr with the High Line, and by the non-profit cultural organizations across all five boroughs serving as the project's anchor partners: Abrons Arts Center, the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, and the High Linein Manhattan; ARTs East NY in Brooklyn; Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement in Queens; The POINT CDC in the Bronx; and Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden in Staten Island. These programs range from New York history-mining walking tours, to participatory activities, to cultural celebrations and festival events (listed below and on milelongopera.com), and engage local audiences in enriching opportunities for personal and community-oriented empowerment and citywide connection.
All performances of The Mile-Long Opera-nightly, at 7pm, from October 3-7-are free, but require advance tickets. They will be available online beginning September 5, on a first-come, first-serve basis, at milelongopera.com. Bookings are limited to 2 per registration. The October 3 performance will serve as a preview; critics are welcome October 4 onward.
During The Mile-Long Opera audiences will move along the length of the High Line, immersing themselves in hundreds of stories inspired by the accounts of a wide range of New Yorkers, about life in our rapidly changing city. The workis conceived by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro andPulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. Acclaimed poets Anne Carson and Claudia Rankine are writing the text, inspired by real-life stories, many of them gathered through first-hand interviews with residents throughout the city, asking what 7:00 pm means to them. While 7:00 pm almost universally represents a time of transition from day to night, when people shift from one activity to the next, these conversations reveal a vast spectrum of feelings and perspectives-and, by extension, represent the diverse character of the city's inhabitants and their individual experiences. Lang is setting Carson and Rankine's script to dynamic new music that the immense chorus, led by Music Director Donald Nally, will sing. Elizabeth Diller and co-director Lynsey Peisinger will stage the performance along the entire length of the elevated park.
The Mile-Long Opera is produced by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the High Line, and The OFFICE performing arts + film. This project would not be possible without the generous support of Target, which is the presenting sponsor, or the partnership of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.
Photo by Liz Ligon
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