FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Isabelle Deconinck | Lerner & Deconinck Associates
646-623-1709 | isadeco@earthlink.net

MUSIC FOR CONTEMPLATION PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF BROKEN SILENCE

Towards Healing the Abuse Scandal in the Catholic Church 
 
January 6-8, 2020 at 8:25 p.m.

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York City

“By far the most meaningful live musical experience I’ve had in the past year—somewhere between a Quaker service, a group meditation, and a concert.” (Composer Eve Beglarian)
 
Created by Wandelweiser composer Craig Shepard, Broken Silence powerfully combines word and music for listeners to contemplate the subjects of abuse and corruption, particularly the sex scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Presented by Music for Contemplation (MuFoCo), the world premiere will take place at the DiMenna Center (Benzaquen Hall) in New York City, and run for three nights, January 6-8, 2020. Musicians include Erin Rogers (tenor saxophone), Kristen McKeon (alto saxophone), and Elisa Corona, Dan Joseph, Dev Ray and Alex Lahoski (elbow steel string acoustic guitars), with Shepard as speaker.
 
Shepard saw an opportunity for music to provide a space where one can slow down and process the scandal. Broken Silence (75 minutes) uses original, contemplative music to support listeners as they engage with court testimony connected to the scandal. Text includes Margaret Gallant's 1982 insightful letter to Cardinal Madeiros, who served as Archbishop of Boston from 1970 until his death in 1983 and was named cardinal in 1973. Music has three sections. Each begins with long, meditative tones passed among musicians across a circle and built into pulsating chords, before tones are dropped one at a time, sometimes imperceptibly. 

Shepard’s goal is to support healing for all involved, including members from the priesthood and other churches, and individuals whose life has been affected by other forms of abuse. His hope is also to develop practices that help other institutions to address corruption. “Music has the unique capacity to do this. By encountering the truth of the events together, we increase our capacity to engage with them. This is essential for beginning to heal both as individuals and as a community. Musician play a significant role in supporting people to come out the other side.” Inspiration for the project came to Shepard in 2014, when the composer participated to a Guitar Circle workshop in Mexico. It was developed with essential input from composers such as Pauline Oliveros, Chris Mann, Tony Geballe and others, and through mindful meditation and invite-only workshops for those in and outside the church.

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (Norman S. Benzaquen Hall) is located at 450 West 37th Street (Btw. 9th & 10th avenues.). All performances will begin at 8:25 p.m. (No late seating). Performances are free of charge but require RSVP by December 31, 2019. https://www.mufoco.info/2020-events/broken-silence-january-06-07-08-performances
 
Music for Contemplation (MufoCo) is an organization which invites listeners to light concentration through a series of concerts, offering a space and time outside busy New York City to let thoughts wander. Past seasons have featured works by the New York Guitar Circle, Deep Listening composers Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster, Alvin Lucier, Shelley Burgon, Andrew Lafkas, Dan Joseph, Wandelweiser composers Antoine Beuger, Kunsu Shim, Eva-Maria Houben, Sam Sfirri and Craig Shepard, and free improvisers Christian Kobi, Sean Meehan and Mike Bullock. www.mufoco.info
 
Composer Craig Shepard directs Music for Contemplation in New York. He trained as an orchestral trombonist with Frank Crisafulli, and studied Renaissance sacred music with Ulrich Eichenberger in Switzerland. A member of Wandelweiser, he studied with Michael Pisaro  Pauline Oliveros, participated in Robert Fripp's Guitar Circle courses, and has worked with Antoine Beuger, Jürg Frey and Christian Wolff.