The Song Blanket
Commissioned by Sparks and Wiry Cries, Sorel Foundation Grant.
Premier February 20, 2026 NYC, USA | Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, Symphony Space
In my project, The Song Blanket, I bring forward the quilt as a holder of traditional teachings.
An ordinary item, familiar to many cultures, the quilt lives in the world of ‘craft’ and ‘folk art’ and is often identified as ‘women’s work’. I see the quilt as part of our collective memory and I place it in the centre of this project. Through the teachings held in the quilts my grannie made, I explore cultural loss, impacts of colonization, and the world matriarchal knowledge as a blood memory. I view this as a grass roots movement that unites the classical musician with their work as storytellers using voice and community music making to create change.
–Rebecca Hass
Rebecca, through the character of the old woman, calls forward the matriarchs who travel with us, wrapping all in the transformative vibration of music. Joined by local guest artists, audiences will journey through stories and songs — both new and old, as the old woman seeks to remember and reclaim.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATES
The Song Blanket will enter workshop development in November 2025, hosted by Pacific Opera Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. A second workshop will follow at Ithaca College in New York, USA, in February 2026, leading up to its official premiere at The Thalia Theatre.
NEW MUSIC
This work will feature the debut of What Binds Us — a song cycle with music by Ian Cusson and words by Michelle Poirier-Brown and Rebecca Hass. It will also include several new compositions by Rebecca Hass, including a piece for solo voice, another for solo voice and Native flute, a quartet for a cappella voices, and a participatory song written for audience voices.
Learn more:
www.sparksandwirycries.org/songcircle
