From History of Life: Act I Contemporaneous

Part céilí, part rock concert, part astral meditation on the history of the world, History of Life is a wild ecstatic musical vision that resurrects the ancient form of the epic—a massive musical poem weaving together a vast collection of the stories of our world to form a new mythology of ourselves and our place within its history. History of Life explodes out in all directions from Homer’s Odyssey, imagining and re-configuring the tale of Odysseus as though it had been passed throughout human history continuously for the last 2700 years, evolving and picking up new stories and new sounds in every retelling. The singer Isaiah Robinson serves as a bard, guiding the audience through its music and story, and is joined by a ragtag band of 12 musicians who play hurdy-gurdies, harp, toy piano, harmonium, strings, and percussion. Sung and spoken in over 14 languages, including English, Ancient Greek, Cape Verdean Creole, Tuscan, and Old Provençal, History of Life offers a vision of what is beyond our capacity to imagine: the vastness of our own history, seen not as a single thread of dates and kings and extinctions, but rather in its endless superabundant multitude of singular moments of experience—the near-infinite seconds of yearning and hunger and love and anger and wonder of every person and animal and plant that has ever lived.
Contemporaneous is an ensemble of 25 musicians whose mission is to bring to life the most transformative music by living composers through performances, commissions, recordings, and educational programs. Described as “exact and detailed, but also lively and openly dancing” (The New York Times) and “leading new music towards its better self” (I Care If You Listen), Contemporaneous particularly champions the creation of large-scale works and “dream projects,” which composers might not otherwise have opportunities to realize due to scale.
Mountain Stage, OUTDOORS

https://ci.ovationtix.com/36035/performance/11486872?performanceId=11486872