Rising Tides
Telling the Story of the Changing Climate through Music
Eureka Ensemble is leading a series of performances and programs that spark dialogue and raise awareness around the local impacts from the changing climate in New England.
We believe that the best way to address this issue is to bring together leaders from academic, business, and creative communities to inspire active dialogue that focuses on local, rather than global, impacts of climate change. Together, as individuals and communities, we can act to make change for the better.
Rising Tides is run in partnership with the School for the Environment (SFE) at the University of Massachusetts Boston and has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cabot Family Charitable Trust, Brookline Bank, and the Boston Cultural Council.
CURRENT INITIATIVE: Phase Two (Spring 2022)
Youth Seminars
In partnership with the School for the Environment (SFE) at UMass Boston, Eureka is leading three groups of students in different parts of Greater Boston in a multi-week discussion about the local impacts of climate change. The groups, based in Chinatown, Cambridge, and Chelsea, are learning the basics of climate change from SFE scientist Sarah Howdy, supported by musical examples provided by Eureka musicians. Each group will then work together with the Eureka team to create an original song based on their experience. The final songs will be presented in a virtual format and shared widely. Renowned science reporter and media producer Ari Daniel is producing a short documentary about the Rising Tides project.
We are proud to be offering these seminars to over 40 youth with our partners at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (Red Oak program), St. James’s Episcopal Church (youth group), and our own Desea Soñar program run in partnership with La Colaborativa.
Virtual Concert
Eureka Ensemble will present a virtual concert of nature-related classical music, along with youth experiences at Rising Tides seminars, in a virtual performance styled after Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts. Taking place the weekend of June 3rd, 2022, the program aspires to educate a larger group of youth and a general audience about music and the environment. The performance will be recorded among the eclectic and sophisticated collections of the Pucker Gallery in Back Bay, Boston. The program will include music by Michi Wiancko, Gustav Mahler, G. F. Handel, and more, together with videography by Grammy Award-winning technical director Brandon Johnson and a guest appearance by the Boston Children’s Chorus.
Boston Children’s Chorus Guest Appearance
As part of our ongoing partnership with the Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) and our focus on elevating voices speaking to the impacts of climate change, Eureka is proud to join the BCC for their year-end concert “Future Generations: Lift Every Voice,” taking place on May 22nd, 2022. Taking inspiration from social and climate youth leaders, Boston Children’s Chorus singers recognize their own power to affect change in a program that includes world premieres by composers Suad Bushnaq and Jorge Sosa. Tickets are available through BCC’s website (www.bostonchildrenschorus.org/calendar/event/future-generations).
PREVIOUS INITIATIVES
Phase One (Spring 2021)
A group of 4 young composers and songwriters (Rising Tides Fellows) learned from local environmental experts and activists at the UMass Boston School for the Environment. The fellows then used their knowledge and experience to write original songs about the impact of climate change on their local communities. The fellow’s songs were performed by in collaboration with Eureka Ensemble as part of a virtual program presented to both schools and the general public. The program was recorded at the Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) Studios in April 2021 by Eureka Technical Director Brandon Johnson and BCC Operations Assistant Klo Garoute.
Listen to the livestreamed concert from April 30th 2021 —>
