Canto De Todes

Dorian Wood
Presented in partnership with Women + Their Work and Museum of Human Achievement

Canto de Todes is an immersive 12-hour composition and installation. Inspired by a lyric of the late Chilean singer and songwriter Violeta Parra, the Creative Capital-awarded project emphasizes the urgency of folk music as a vessel for social change.

A genre-defying canon of songs arriving as a long-durational spatial experience, the work is divided into three movements. The first and third movements are hour-long chamber pieces influenced by folk, popular, and experimental music. The second movement is a 10-hour pre-recorded piece unfolding throughout multiple spaces within the hosting venue.

Canto de Todes upends the expectation of the rigidness often associated with witnessing chamber music performances by offering a welcoming space that allows individuals to project their personal, communal joys, and traumas. It is a collaborative work with local artists who are invited to permanently incorporate their respective visions into the body of this evolving piece.