Broadcast at the Crossroads

A participatory, community-based work by Lisa Bielawa created in collaboration with the DePauw University School of Music (Greencastle, IN)

Broadcast at the Crossroads is the culmination of Lisa Bielawa’s Composer-in-Residence appointment at DePauw University’s annual Music of the 21st Century festival, organized by School of Music professor Dr. Eliza Brown. Though the residency was originally scheduled pre-pandemic to be in-person, Bielawa and Brown pivoted their work together as a way to build community in the challenging lockdown conditions.

“Indiana’s state motto is ‘The Crossroads of America,’ but this piece also considers the unique predicament of this generation whose studies have been dramatically affected by Covid and its impact on educational institutions, at the crossroads of their lives. I came to know about field recordings that Dr. Brown’s Practicum students captured in the lively campus buildings (dining hall, student union) on March 10 and 11, 2020, the final days before all students, faculty, and non-essential staff were told to evacuate the campus. Eerily frozen in time, these ‘Sounds of DePauw’ videos bear witness to the last moments of lively campus life. With the kind permission of these students and alumni, these field recordings have become part of the sonic landscape of Broadcast at the Crossroads.” - Lisa Bielawa

Building on the methods and techniques Bielawa has developed during the pandemic to create broadly participatory works such as Broadcast from Home, Voters’ Broadcast, and Brickyard Broadcast, in a highly collaborative, asynchronous process, Broadcast at the Crossroads weaves together musical materials recorded independently and soloistically by all of the individual members of the orchestra, band, choir and opera programs at DePauw University.

Additional material for Broadcast at the Crossroads was generated during Bielawa’s online residency at DePauw in March 2021 through a series of lively Zoom discussions with students.

The compiled and selected texts, drawn from students’ answers to questions such as “What is your useless superpower?,” “What is something you learned this week?,” and “What have you learned this year?” form a collective dramatic monologue of the Student during the time of Covid: acceptance, grief, steely self-determination, wisdom beyond their years.

Online Premiere Event
Friday, April 2, 2021 at 7:30pm ET
Free to watch below and on DePauw University School of Music’s YouTube Channel