My Heart is a River is a one-hour audiovisual performance for cello and surround media, written by Freida Abtan for Seth Parker Woods. Narratively, it investigates those moments where subjective identity must be reformed. The first act is inspired by Abtan’s family story of immigration and the experience of one’s culture being judged through another. The second, by childhood obsession and rejection. The third: familial acceptance and the death of a parent. Each movement uses unique, related, aural and visual processes in its aesthetic and is a self-contained vignette depicted as a dream originating from the cellist’s instrument.
The music features spectral processing and material gathered in guided improvisation workshops between Abtan and cellists: Seth Parker Woods, Meaghan Burke and Simon Cummings. The video features performances by Seth Parker Woods, Tamzin O’Garro, Aloria Adams, Giada Jiang, Ausar Stewart, and Ethan Gwynn.
My Heart is a River was created with generous support from the Seattle Symphony, Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Fine Arts Research and Creation Fund and the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art on the Frontier. The 2025 production was staged with significant support from the School of Music as well as further travel support from iDeaTe and the Studio for Creative Inquiry.
Cost: Free and open to the public; Tickets required.