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.
PORT(AL) is an innovative choral theater experience that delves into the history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, exploring its past as a bustling port and its evolution within the ever-changing tides of the city. Like a river carrying whispers of forgotten stories, the acclaimed Brooklyn Youth Chorus guides audiences through a confluence of song, movement, and immersive storytelling. Co-created by a team of renowned artists including Dianne Berkun Menaker, Paola Prestini, Jad Abumrad, and Jessica Grindstaff, PORT(AL) invites you to navigate the currents of time, where the echoes of history, the realities of the present, and the dreams of the future converge.
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’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.
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.
