An album of new music and accompanying visuals; a digital development of seven chapters from four larks' live production hymns. The music was recorded in individual artists' homes during the COVID19 lockdowns and the accompanying videos were created over five days in an empty Getty Villa.
The Homeric Hymns, among the oldest extant poems from the ancient mediterranean, tell the stories of Demeter & Persephone, of Semele & the lightning storm, of Dionysus & the wine-dark sea, and the cycles of the sun and moon. Our adaptations, sounded through a prism of devotional music traditions spanning centuries and continents, draw on these primordial texts to navigate our collective responsibility to the earth and one another, to dream of what we can do together, and to cope with being apart. Join us as we seek out new modes of congregation and resound these ancient praise songs to the gods we need today.
Work-in-progress videos previewed at the Getty Villa in May 2022.
This project was supported in part by the Getty Villa Theater Lab
With additional support and / or resources from: University of La Verne: Theatre Arts Department The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture Network of Ensemble Theaters NET/TEN Summer Virtual Exploration Grant
and The Bogliasco Foundation Study Center
