“Titling” performance to kick off Bravo! Big Sky Music Festival on August 5
By Julia Barton DIGITAL PRODUCER
BIG SKY – How do we take care of ourselves in the midst of a proverbial storm of fear and stress? In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, systemic injustices, a flooded news cycle, and a climate crisis, this is a question vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Shara Nova hopes to address through her Big Sky performance on August 5. .
Nova will perform the powerful and emotional song cycle “Titration” with the Grammy Award-winning choir The Crossing at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center on August 5 as part of Bravo! Great Heaven Music Festival. This set, she said, is inspired by the overwhelming list of issues to process in today’s society and the impacts they have on us. It’s hard to assess such challenges while taking care of yourself, she said.
“We are experiencing fear and stress, anger and pain,” Nova said. “All those things are happening at the same time. So the song cycle is basically: How do you take care of yourself?
Nova said that between songs that address these emotions, the set will pause to explore how listeners can calm their nervous systems, foster a sense of security and increase their capacity for human connection.
During these breaks, The Crossing Choir will demonstrate physical somatic practices inspired by somatic abolitionist Resmaa Menakem. On her website, Menakem describes somatic abolitionism as a “living, embodied anti-racist practice and cultural edifice, a way of being in the world. It is a return to the ancient wisdom of human bodies respecting, honoring and resonating with other human bodies.”
“I hope people walk away with some practices that they can use at home,” Nova said of the performance. “And that we can feel more and not less.”
Nova referred to performing “Titration” with The Crossing as “a dream come true”. In fact, she is a self-proclaimed “super fan” of the choir who has listened to every album they have released. For her upcoming collaboration, she wrote the music to emphasize the choir’s existing styles and strengths to provide continuity with her previous work.
Nova was called to music from a very young age. Her father directed the church choirs and her mother played the organ; together, her family of traveling evangelists explored the country to her music. A talented vocalist, Nova eventually went to school to study opera, moved to New York City, and began creating music under the name My Brightest Diamond in 2006.
Her training in classical music veered in another direction as Nova adopted an identity as an indie pop artist known for seamlessly gliding between genres.
“I was using classical orchestration for my indie pop music and found that I could sing all the parts,” Nova explained. “So, I would sing the violins, the violas, the cellos and the trumpet parts.”
Through this unique take on pop music, Nova has released four albums as My Brightest Diamond and has written several larger works, including an orchestra for the Brooklyn Youth Choir. She has also collaborated with David Byrne, The Decemberists and Laurie Anderson during her career.
For more information on Bravo! The schedule of the festival from August 5 to 6 or to buy tickets, go to bigskyarts.org/bravo-big-sky-music-festival/.
