Are we listening long and hard? Do we hear the cries for help?
Fire in my mouth, a major world work from Bang on a Can composer Julia Wolfe, tells the story of New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: a 1911 tragedy that led to significant changes in labor laws. Representing the nearly 150 women lost in that fire are 36 women of The Crossing, with the Philharmonic’s new music director, Jaap van Zweden, conducting.
The New York Times called the work “ambitious, heartfelt, often compelling. … There is both heady optimism and a sense of dread in Ms. Wolfe’s music. … Mr. van Zweden led a commanding account of a score that … ends with an elegiac final chorus in which the names of all 146 victims are tenderly sung to create a fabric of music and memory.”
The Crossing
Tanisha Anderson • Katy Avery • Gabrielle Barkidjija • Sarah Batts • Jessica Beebe • Kelly Ann Bixby • Sharon Byrne • Abigail Chapman • Veronica Chapman-Smith • Hai-Ting Chinn • Meg Dudley • Allie Faulkner • Joanna Gates • Ilana Goldstein • Dianna Grabowski • Barbara Hill • Rebecca Myers • Heather Kayan • Lauren Kelly • Michele Kennedy • Heidi Kurtz • Kim Leeds • Kate Maroney • Hannah Dixon McConnell • Laura Mercado-Wright • Maren Montalbano • Rebecca Oehlers • Christine Papania • Ellen Peters • Alexandra Porter • Rebecca Siler • Julie Snyder • Tiana Sorenson • Elisa Sutherland • Elizabeth van Os • Shari Wilson
New York Philharmonic, The Crossing, Young People’s Chorus of New York City
Jaap van Zweden, Donald Nally, Kevin Vondrak, Francisco J. Núñez
Creative Director, Design – Elisa Bates
Executive-Producer – Mark Travis, Vince Ford
Mastered By, Cover – Ian Good
Photography By – Chris Lee
Recorded By – Bob Hanlon
Recorded By, Mastered By – Lawrence Rock