Rites of Spring Music Festival Concert: Strange and Wonderful

Improvised music pieces and original music works will take the place of the abstract visuals in “The Garden.”
As in the book, the performance will start with a music piece, followed by its partner story. The music and readings will alternate throughout the performance for the eleven short stories. A final music work will conclude the performance.
The visuals use color and pattern to create a mood or feeling that shifts from story to story. The collective design of the visuals starts with an image of dark chaos. The images are completely symmetrical with one side mirroring the other. The concluding image presents a new, re-ordering of the elements in warm, bright colors.  (See below the “storyboard ” image)

“The Garden” is a series of emotionally evocative abstract images with eleven semi-autobiographical single-page stories centering on themes of abandonment and loss. Stylistically reminiscent of children’s literature, Pundyk’s tales hint of secrets and truths, as they trace familial ties, tragedy, art, nature and a cathartic sense of sharing.

Performers 
Mariel Roberts, Cellist
Women’s chorus of readers led by
Anne Sherwood Pundyk