EDEN-Colorado

photo by Hayden Dansky

Ars Nova Singers is excited to announce a developing educational program inspired by a beautiful project that embraces the connection between art and the environment.

Created in conjunction with the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC), and world-renowned opera singer and Grammy Award winner Joyce DiDonato, EDEN is a music and environmental awareness workshop for children in grades K-12; its hopeful and inspiring message is already blooming in Europe. This music workshop inspires empathy with nature by asking the essential question: What if trees could sing? The children respond to this prompt with words and melodies and create their own song, while also learning the EDEN anthem, Seeds of Hope, written by the pilot children’s choir that was created for this project. Joyce says,

“EDEN is a call to action to build a paradise for today: to fertilize, nourish, and protect the pure bliss that the deepest part of us knows and yearns for: the unpolluted perfume of a linden branch; the comforting shade of a towering tree; the breathtaking sanctity of pure love; the generosity of the endless light that breaks open for us every single morning; the dying to the world we have known, only to embrace and live aloud in our heaven, our love, and our song.”

EDEN-Colorado directly activates the power of music in children’s lives, bringing musical expression into action to address the environmental challenges they face, and giving them, quite literally, a voice to help create a new EDEN. The students will participate in singing, choreography, and composing while becoming part of a community (the international Eden choir family). Through music, the children will acknowledge the crisis the climate is in, appreciate the beauty in the world, and encourage everyone, including themselves, to take just one step to help save our world.

Do you have questions? Reach out to us at kimberly@arsnovasingers.org, or directly to EDEN-Colorado coordinator Ellen Moeller at ellenmoeller@gmail.com.