Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Paola Prestini, Jad Abumrad
PORT(AL)
“A sprawling, ambitious, innovative new collaborative production” (Vogue).
PORT(AL) is an epic new work charting the Brooklyn Navy Yard and a history of women’s work in New York, co-created by the GRAMMY Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus (“a mammoth choir that lends a shot of instant grandiosity to everything they touch” — Pitchfork), Jad Abumrad (Radiolab), Paola Prestini, Jessica Grindstaff, Ogemdi Ude and a chorus of 50 young singers.
A mesmerizing new choral theater experience, PORT(AL) opens a hidden doorway to the past within the depths of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ebbing, flowing, and interweaving throughout this immersive piece are the voices of the youth chorus speaking to their relationship to their very own time and place, and their future.
Vividly evoking and honoring Brooklyn’s ghosts, PORT(AL) spins oral histories from recently passed figures like historian Howard Zinn and activist Clarence L. Irving, Sr. Discover the hidden depths of the Navy Yard’s past, where the trailblazing spirit of machinist and drag king Rusty Brown and the pioneering voice of mezzo soprano Eugenia Farrar surge like tidal waves.
PORT(AL) is not just a performance; it’s an immersive passage through time, where the boundaries between eras dissolve and the enduring spirit of the human story sets sail.
PORT(AL) was partially developed in residency at PS21 in early 2025.
Brooklyn Youth Chorus’s Grammy Award-winning ensemble, led by Founder & Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker, is one of the most highly regarded ensembles in the country and has stretched the artistic boundaries for the youth chorus. Hailed by The New York Times as “a polished ensemble of miniature professionals,” the Chorus has performed with acclaimed conductors including Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and has collaborated with an impressive range of organizations and artists including the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, The National, David Byrne, Wye Oak, Bon Iver, Shara Nova, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Elton John, and Grizzly Bear. Brooklyn Youth Chorus has developed an active commissioning program and has collaborated with some of the most important composers of our time including Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, Tania León, Nico Muhly, Angelica Negrón, Bryce Dessner, Paola Prestini, Nathalie Joachim, Toshi Reagon, Alev Lenz, and William Brittelle. Founded in 1992, Brooklyn Youth Chorus has served over 10,000 students over the course of its history, annually serving hundreds of students in its core after-school and public-school outreach programs.
Dianne Berkun Menaker, Founder and Artistic Director
Music by Paola Prestini
With additional music by Jad Abumrad and Samora Pinderhughes Libretto by Jad Abumrad and Jessica Grindstaff
Directed by Jessica Grindstaf
Co-Created by Dianne Berkun Menaker, Paola Prestini, Jad Abumrad and Jessica Grindstaff
Commissioned by Brooklyn Youth Chorus in association with VisionIntoArt
Co-Produced by Brooklyn Youth Chorus and VisionIntoArt
Brooklyn Youth Chorus gratefully acknowledges the lead donors of PORT(AL), without whom this project would not be possible.
The commissioning of PORT(AL) was made possible with major support from The Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative.
This project is made possible with the generous support of Charles J. and Irene F. Hamm, Mark Agger of the Agger Fish Building and the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Foundation, as part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative.
Brooklyn Youth Chorus gratefully acknowledges the lead donors of PORT(AL), without whom this project would not be possible.
This project is made possible with the generous support of Charles J. and Irene F. Hamm, Mark Agger of the Agger Fish Building and the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Foundation, as part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative.
From January 27 to February 2, 2025, PS21 will welcome the esteemed Brooklyn Youth Chorus as they workshop a new production, PORT(AL), before its premiere in Spring 2025 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
