NEW YORK (PIX11) – There was a one-of-a-kind public performance at Lincoln Center on Saturday.
It was a world premiere public performance of a piece called “Search for Spring” in the main plaza. It was also billed as a crowd action for optimism. This hour-long choral piece explored the toll of climate change and our hope for a better future.
New Yorkers made up of six different choirs from across the five boroughs came together for this monumental work composed by Jonathan Dove.
“We imagined something special in this space,” the composer Dove told PIX11 News.
Audience members could also sing or read along in a downloadable libretto. The more than 1,000 voices in the choral work expressed feelings of loss, confusion, renewal, and finally hope symbolized by the young peoples’ chorus of New York, who were in yellow shirts expressing optimism for the future.
“At one point, toward the end of the piece, something magical happens,” Francisco Nunez, the founder and director of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, told PIX11 news.
“It was amazing, 1,000 voices,” Emma Ramsey, 11, and a member of the Young People’s Chorus, told PIX11 News.
“I hope people were moved by what they saw, and we’re empowered to do something about it,” Maddie Pilla, 17, a Young People’s Chorus member, said.
Fans of Jonathan Doves traveled from as far away as Minnesota to hear this piece that was free and open to all.
“I am passionate about climate change problems and here they are talking and singing about it, and it is just absolutely fantastic,” Marcia Aubineau, who traveled from Minnesota, told PIX11 News.
When PIX11 asked Shanta Thake, chief artistic officer of Lincoln Center, if this piece will make a difference in climate change, she replied. “Everything we do is a step forward. This really allows people to think differently. You can do something,” she added.
There are hundreds of free events in the plaza at Lincoln Center starting June 14 to Aug. 12.
