Current Projects

Zara Lawler’s latest production is a dynamic take on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the classic novel by Betty Smith. It tells a universal story of the creative blossoming of a girl from an immigrant family, with the tree as a symbol for both resilience and creativity:  “Some people called it the Tree of Heaven.  No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky…It was the only tree that grew out of cement.”  All the music in the performance is taken directly from the book, ranging from folk and popular tunes to works by Schubert, Dvorak and Bizet, woven seamlessly with key moments from the story.

Join us for immersive performances of music and scenes from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn under the arching boughs of the trees growing in the Sugar Hill Community Garden or among the hallowed books of the Washington Heights Public Library.

Created and performed by Zara Lawler with Cynthia Shaw, piano, Molly Goldman, violin/viola, and Kathryn McCreary, voice.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement and UMEZ Arts Engagement, regrant programs supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Howard Gilman Foundation and Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ)  and administered by LMCC.

FLUTE SET

Flute Set is a charming four-movement work for solo flute by Adolphus Hailstork, choreographed by Emily Vartanian.  The video was shot and edited by Ismael Fernandez, with editing help by Emily Vartanian, and sound is by Jeanne Velonis.  

SYMMETRICAL LIVES

Symmetrical Lives is an innovative production of J. S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite in B-minor, created by Zara Lawler, violinist Maja Cerar and choreographer C. Neil Parsons.  

It was premiered as a short film in October 2021 as part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar from Home Series.

Symmetrical Lives was premiered in November 2022 as an in-person music and movement performance.  You can watch the finale here:

This performance is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC.

 

 

Symmetrical Lives emerged from the pandemic experience and the artists’ desire to be together safely in a natural environment that afforded freedom of expression and room to play, and parallels the experience of many New Yorkers who sought the outdoors as sanctuary to counterbalance the isolation we all were feeling socially, artistically and even spiritually.

 Read more about the project here, and watch the full video below, and please join us on November 6:

Lawler + Fadoul ALBUM: Clickable

Lawler + Fadoul’s new album CLICKABLE is now available via Amazon and iTunes.

CLICKABLE: THE ART OF PERSUASION, from the celebrated duo of flutist Zara Lawler and marimbaist Paul J. Fadoul, is a concept album, an audio version of a live show that uses theatrical performance and audience participation to convey the many facets of persuasion – from powerful storytelling to coercion, pressure, and manipulation. The album includes commercial jingles, a lullaby, dust jacket texts set to music, a protest song, a serenade, and a spoken-word commentary on social media.

HOWL

World Premiere Performance of a collaboration of Zara Lawler and DoubleTake Dance.  Featuring Zara Lawler interpreting words from poet Amy Newman’s HOWL, with choreography by Vanessa Martinez de Banos and Ashley Carter.  Created as part of the Higher Ground Festival 2020 HG Premieres, presented on a rooftop in Upper Manhattan in September 2020.  Thanks to Arts ON AIR for making live performance possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watch video of the performance HERE.

FARM CONCERTS

An experiment in cultivating safe audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic by playing concerts for farm animals and plants.