Turbine

“… it’s hard to imagine that anyone walked away from Turbine unchanged.”

—David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“… we left transformed… the sounds more crisp, and every movement as a signal.”

—Miriam Seidel

In Turbine, the audience is immersed with music and movement in an outdoor performance along the water. The project was created for the 200th Anniversary of the Fairmount Water Works—an urban environmental center on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. This site-responsive choral work for 80+ moving singers is available to be performed in other waterways.

Audio excerpt

Composing Turbine

This interview with composer Byron Au Yong gives a glimpse into the creative process of composing music inspired by water.

Turbine Lyrics

Lyrics come from 18th and 19th century writers such as Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Caroline Howard Gilman, John Penn, and Mark Twain.

Conducting Turbine

Alan Harler, Artistic Director of the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, talks about Turbine, as well as his 27-year tenure with the chorus.

Choreographing Turbine

Choreographer Leah Stein talks about creating movement with singing for a site-specific performance throughout the Water Works.

Turbine River History

Executive Director of City Parks Association Deenah Loeb describes the history of the Schuylkill River.

Fairmount Water Works History

Interview with Adam Levine, historical consultant for the Philadelphia Water Department.

Audio Interviews

Program (scroll inside frame)

Score (scroll inside frame)

Creative Team
Leah Stein, artistic director/choreographer
Alan Harler, conductor/music director
Byron Au Yong, composer

Performed by Leah Stein Dance Company and Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia
with assistant conductors Ryan Tibbetts, Austen Wilson
and soloists Jennifer Beattie, Shahara M. Benson, Jean Bernard Cerin, Josh Hartman, Bob Rodgers, Alice McKillip Thornburgh, Rebecca Thornburgh, Ryan Tibbetts, Austen Wilson

Tolsma Productions, video documentation and interviews

Details
Duration: variable (circa one hour)

Commissioned and performed by Leah Stein Dance Company and Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia
More about the lyrics compiled and edited by Byron Au Yong

Instrumentation
moving voices
water

Performances
Fairmount Water Works
Philadelphia PA, June 27 – 28, 2015

Special Thanks
Lora Allen, Sonja Bontrager, Alan Harler, Hermitage Artist Retreat, Michelle Hollander, Adam Levine (Philadelphia Water Department), Deenah Loeb (City Parks Association), Janelle McCoy, Edward McNally, Leah Stein, Leah Stein Dance Company, Library Company of Philadelphia, Carolyn Linarello, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Michael Moore, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Gabrielle Revlock, Saechew/Tolsma Household, Amanda Schkeeper, Skip Stotesbury, Thornburgh Family, Ryan Tibbetts, Rich Tolsma Productions, Sharon Torello, Schuylkill Banks, Richard Tolsma, Wyncote Foundation, Karen Young (Fairmount Water Works)

Major support for Turbine
provided by William Penn Foundation. In addition, Turbine was supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts

Preview Quote
“... an experience with performers and audience moving throughout the entire site at the Fairmount Water Works.”

—Merilyn Jackson, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Articles
Eric Hung, Applying Commemorative Museum Pedagogy to Public Music Studies. American Music, 2022
Kelsey Menehan. Commissioning Journeys: When the Place Shapes the Music. Chorus America, 2015

Press
Peter Crimmins. One of a kind performance at the Waterworks. WHYY NewsWorks
Miriam Seidel. Leah Stein, Dance Alchemist. Miriam Seidel Blog
David Patrick Stearns. Getting Creative Down by the Riverside. The Philadelphia Inquirer
David Patrick Stearns. How many arms does it take to conduct the Mendelssohn Club Choir? WRTI
Lewis Whittington. Stein’s water-dances fuel Turbine. The Dance Journal

Program Note Excerpt

Alan Harler and Leah Stein brought me to the Fairmount Water Works in October 2013. The park and historic plaza were alive with people enjoying the autumn day next to the glistening waterway. Appropriately translated as “hidden river,” the Schuylkill turned from peaceful to terrifying when the following spring, the water crested at nearly 14 feet. The May 2014 flood brought a deluge to the Water Works. A place that was historically the source of clean water became filled with debris.

TURBINE draws upon accounts from the heyday of the Fairmount Water Works in the early 19th century. Visitors marveled at human ingenuity building “miraculous mechanical… cylinders and pistons” that worked with nature to provide “clear and bright as crystal, a cup for the thirsty.” This text is filtered through a 21st century reality to produce lyric fragments.

Migration as well as water molecules influence the music. Voices seep in and out of the sounds along the river. These include the noise of traffic and trains. Musical motifs connect and disconnect in a free molecular flow.

According to the World Health Organization, a child dies from a water-related disease every minute. More than twice the population of the United States lives without access to safe water. How can we turn despair and rage into wisdom?

Singing and listening to a river in the middle of a city is a step towards “justice journeying to harbor.” A turbine takes turbulence and transforms it into potential energy. Together we can find ways to ensure that the 750 million people around the world who lack access to safe water are given a chance to survive.
Byron Au Yong