You can become part of the ‘Broadcast from Home’ musical project

New York composer Lisa Bielawa uses voices from everywhere to stitch together a sonic tapestry

Composer Lisa Bielawa

Photo: Carlin Ma

Human interaction takes on greater significance when it is no longer part of one’s routine. As fear has swept across the globe amid the coronavirus pandemic, so too has the need for a sense of community among neighbors near and far.

Recognizing the profound effects of social isolation and even experiencing them herself, Lisa Bielawa has overcome distance to establish fellowship in her latest musical work — an interactive and healing process of art with the public at large.

In April, the New York-based composer launched “Broadcast From Home” in partnership with the Kaufman Music Center in New York City. In the first phase of the project, which is released in chapters every Thursday, individuals are asked to share testimonies, in response to prompts by archivist Claire Solomon, about their personal experiences of seclusion due to the range of stay-at-home mandates around the world. As of this interview, Bielawa had received over 60 submissions by contributors, ages 14 to 79, representing four continents.

As texts are collected, Bielawa pieces together short vocal phrases, which she and fellow singer Gregory Purnhagen record and upload to her website as “guide tracks,” or examples of how the material should sound. Anyone interested in participating, regardless of talent, is encouraged to follow suit in submitting recordings of himself or herself singing the melodic lines.

More Information
"Broadcast From Home"

When: New chapters released every Thursday

Where: lisabielawa.net/broadcast-from-home

“I don’t need professional-sounding singers,” said Bielawa, whose song cycle “Centuries in the Hours” was commissioned by ROCO and premiered in the ensemble’s 2019 “Time for Hope” program. “This isn’t just a bunch of singers making music online for audiences. This is about the fact that our whole community has been trapped at home, and people need to use their voices to connect to one another. It’s all we have.”

To remain inclusive of all vocal abilities, Bielawa selects chamber musicians to perform the original accompaniment. Although many involved are her students at the Mannes School of Music at The New School and young artists in the Kaufman Music Center’s Face the Music program, there have also been appearances by special guests, including ROCO’s founder, artistic director and principal oboist Alecia Lawyer.

From utter shock and heartbreak to frenzied frustration and nostalgia, the authentic testimonies run the gamut of emotions in phases that Bielawa likened to the stages of grief. By Chapter 5, she noted, people were starting to experience cognitive difficulties relating to the passage of time more so than a particular emotional response, but that changed again the following week with a deep fear sprouting in people’s minds, which later blossomed into a sliver of optimism.

“There’s no way that I could possibly use everything that is contributed, but I try to take the general overall temperature of what people are feeling and that becomes the emotional tone,” Bielawa said of selecting pithy and poignant texts that will sing graciously. “There are differences in the way that people are expressing the particulars of their lockdown situation, but the emotional undercurrent is the same, and I do find myself wanting to emphasize that.”

Undertaking large-scale projects, such as this, is nothing new for Bielawa, who recently collaborated with artist Sheryl Oring in “Mauer Broadcast,” a series of pop-up choral performances in honor of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She is also currently working on another piece, titled “Voters’ Broadcast,” that is meant to be performed in public spaces leading up to the presidential election.

Bielawa has committed to crafting “Broadcast From Home” throughout the period of isolation, so its final length remains uncertain. However, once group gatherings are possible, the project — each chapter of which is mixed and mastered by Ben Young — will culminate in live performances that will preserve the recorded voices of people at home, no matter the way in which it is presented.

“There’s something intimate about that act of singing these private thoughts of your own fellow humans and sending them to me,” Bielawa said. “It’s a hurting time for people who need music in their lives, which turns out to be a lot of people. I’d like the project to help as many people with their connection to music and music making as possible. We’re in this together.”

Lawrence Elizabeth Knox is a Houston-based writer.

  • Lawrence Elizabeth Knox