Bloodlines Interwoven
Bloodlines Interwoven is a collaborative commissioning and performance project that brings together a group of artists from diverse cultural backgrounds to share their family histories, compose music that illuminates those histories, and premiere the resulting new works for the public.
Created by artistic director Kaoru Watanabe with generous support from the Mellon Foundation and the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Bloodlines Interwoven employs an intensive storytelling and music-making process to explore and celebrate our different lived experiences and reveal, in the end, the beauty of their intrinsic interconnectedness.2024 was the inaugural year in which fifteen featured artists—whose work is informed by their diverse creative, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds—completed a months-long residency at Baryshnikov Arts in Manhattan. During these gatherings, the artists spoke of their families' migration stories, culture, tradition, language, religion, spirituality, and cuisine, as well as their artistic process and artistic vision. As this process unfolded, the artists began to create new musical works that drew from and were inspired by the interweaving of each other’s narratives.
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This creative process culminated in the week-long Bloodlines Interwoven Festival in Tivoli, NY, which featured artist talks, workshops in traditional and contemporary music, evening-length concerts with world premieres by acclaimed composers, late-evening fireside music-making, and curated storytelling and discussion sessions. Besides premiering the new works by the featured artists, over a dozen other musicians presented their music during the festival. In 2025, Watanabe expanded the scope of Bloodlines Interwoven to last an entire year and include multiple public performances in various venues across New York and beyond. Instead of the gatherings culminating in a Bloodlines Interwoven Festival, Watanabe will partner with existing festivals to reach more diverse audiences.
