Kathryn Shuman & Friends recording in the Angeles Forest
Plop on a rock and sit with us along our local watershed, the Arroyo Seco, in celebration of Kathryn Shuman’s exploratory new record Music for Musicians and Canyons recorded on Altadena’s Echo Mountain Trail. Maybe some of you remember when we went kind of viral while recording a portion of the album in 2023?
This evening Kathryn presents compositions and guided improvisations in relationship with the echoes of this evening’s bridge. This music has been written for our neighboring canyons and arranged for this one-time-only performance along the Arroyo.
We last worked with Kathryn in 2022 while collaborating with Wild Up on a series of site specific performances & since then have been absolutely enamored by not only the gift that is her voice but the precision in which she can explore and redefine a space through song. While our relationship together is rooted in playing music along trails and waterways, you’ve likely seen Kathryn performing with the LA Phil & Meredith Monk or have heard her voice in the soundtrack for major motion pictures like Superman & Wicked. She’s also recorded with Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Vampire Weekend, but professionalism aside are so excited by how much she loves to be in dialogue with our natural world through sound.
Instrumentalists for this evening will be:
Steve Blum, Alden Hellmuth, Patrick Shiroishi, Marta Tiesenga, Alex Wand
with vocals from:
Mikaela Elson, Sara Gomez, Jessika Kenney, Sharon Chohi Kim, Luc Kleiner, Linnea Sablosky
Donation-based!
Bring a friend, blanket, snacks, a flashlight,
share the sunset, and we’ll see you on the trail.
Pin drop with rsvp
& we’ll lead a short group hike,
guided by our own resident naturalist,
that will leave the parking lot right at 5:30p.
Kathryn Shuman is an LA based vocalist, improviser, and composer who enjoys a wide
range of musical performance and expression. For the past several years, she’s been
exploring ecomusicology— sonic interaction & interdependence between beings and
their surroundings— by creating music for people and places, as well as following
migratory bird paths on bicycle, performing and capturing field recordings along the way.
Shuman’s “Echo Mountain” album releases October 26th on SADFAM records featuring
musicians performing and improvising in Angeles National Forest.
Shuman performs in reverberant canyons, boom-y basements, greenhouses, and
concert halls and cathedrals around the globe.
Most recently Kathryn was a featured
soloist in an Ellen Reid world premiere with the LA Philharmonic, led by Gustavo
Dudamel, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. She was the resident Soprano vocal artist for
Long Beach Opera’s 2024-2025 Pauline Oliveros season, and has been a featured
SAG-AFTRA union vocal soloist on video games, film and television.
She has been teaching music and embodied singing for over 13 years.