Urban Birds

Are you longing to hear live music without going inside? Could your endless outdoor meet-ups use a little more pizazz? If so, glide and hop over to Urban Birds, an afternoon of musical performances for kids and adults. Urban Birds takes place at the Children’s Garden in Northeast LA’s Ernest Debs Park. It is co-presented by the Audubon Society and Synchromy, a Los Angeles-based composer’s collective dedicated to making new music accessible. For this event, Synchromy commissioned 10 local composers to create works inspired by birds common to Southern California. The day’s 10 world premieres include Dante De Silva’s Heat Thrasher and Jen Wang’s Monster, an homage to the mourning dove.

Urban Birds offers many ways to engage. The performances are nestled throughout the trees of the Children’s Garden at the Audubon Visitors Center, and you’re welcome to wander through the musical oasis the way you’d wander through the park looking for birds, stopping to listen for a spell and moving along as you please. For adventurous listeners, Deb’s Park offers trails, gardens, and a turtle pond to explore. Our field guide to the featured birds is available as a free booklet in both English and Spanish for birders and the bird-curious alike. Posters throughout the site offer context for the music, and composers will hold a question-and-answer session at the close of the event. For kids inspired by the sounds and sights, we offer take-home activities, such as instructions for DIY binoculars and bird calls made from common household objects.

The event also celebrates the renovation and re-opening of the Audubon Center, a hub of habitat restoration and environmental justice whose primary goal is renewing the connection between people and the land in Los Angeles. Synchromy supports this mission with music, bringing free live performances to Deb’s Park with following wide-winged local line-up:

Heat Thrasher - Dante De Silva

Monster - Jen Wang

Ash Throated Flycatcher - Christopher Adler

Crow Language - Jason Barabba

Mockingbird Hopscotch - Vera Ivanova

California Towhee - Veronika Krausas

Owl’s Breath - Pamela Madsen

Red Shouldered Hawk - Kenji Oh

Call and Echo - Brandon Rolle

Synchopomp - Diana Wade

Performers include Sean Barela (Bassoon), Rachel Beetz (Flute), Luc Kleiner (Voice), Christopher Adler (Khaen), Xenia Deviatkina-Loh (Violin), Brian Walsh (Clarinet), Scott Worthington (Contrabass), Theodosia Roussos (Oboe), Cassia Streb (Viola), and Jennifer Bewerse (Cello). Concert Design by Cassia Streb and Jennifer Bewerse.

This performance was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the California Arts Council.