Erie Canal Bicentennial

Water Music festival: July 2-6, 2025

Medina - July 2

Clarice Assad sounds the depths of nature, environment, and contemporary community on the Erie Canal.

On a windy Saturday in March 8, Medina community members joined world-renowned, Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad on a “Sound Capture Journey,” as she began crafting a new orchestral work on the theme of the sound of Nature and the Environment and along the Erie Canal. Clarice and adventurous listeners captured sound snippets from around Orleans county, telling personal stories about local connections to nature, the environment, and individual sense of place. The completed composition – a blend of these “found sounds” and orchestral ingenuity – will be performed by the Albany Symphony as the centerpiece of the Water Music New York: More Voices festival in Medina on July 2, 2025. It is a free, daylong festival to commemorate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal and celebrate the waters that connect us through local food, arts, music, and outdoor fun, all made possible by the New York State Canal Corporation. 

Anyone can join! Or you can adventure on your own sound-gathering expedition. Record your favorite spot in the woods or share the sound of the song the birds sing outside your window. How do you listen adventurously to the natural world around you?

Email your sound files to MedinaSoundArchive@gmail.com. Files can be in any format and should be under 5 minutes. Be sure to include where you collected the sound, and your first name and last initial, to be included in the online Medina Sound Archive. 

Utica - July 3

Christian Quiñones blends food and music to tell the stories of people from around the world who enrich Utica and call it home.

As part of its Water Music NY: More Voices partnership with the New York State Canal Corporation to commemorate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, the Albany Symphony will present an all-day festival in the new Harbor Point in Utica on July 3, 2025. The festival celebrates the critical role played by immigrant and refugee communities in building modern-day Utica. As the centerpiece of the festival, Puerto-Rican-born composer Christian Quinones will create a new commissioned work for orchestra and narrators, telling the story of Utica’s uniquely beautiful community of immigrants through a blending of music, food, and stories. In preparation, Christian visited community members and professional chefs in Utica on March 16 and 17 to cook and interview them, and to video and audio record their narratives about their journeys, food, and how food reflects life.  Including visits with members of the Bosnian, Lebanese, Karen, Somali, Dominican, and other communities, Christian will weave a joyful musical celebration of the beautiful variety of peoples and cultures in the Utica area. The July 3 festival will include sharing delicious food, as well as celebrating community through dance, music, recreation, and immersive explorations of history, culture, and the natural world.

Seneca Falls - July 4

Tanner Porter draws inspiration from Seneca Falls’ architectural palimpsests to create music that honors the multi-layered stories of women on the Waterways. 

The centerpiece of the day will be a new composition by composer Tanner Porter, created in close collaboration with the Seneca Falls community and the Albany Symphony.  Inspired by Seneca Falls’ extraordinary history as the epicenter of the Women’s Rights movement in America, Tanner’s work will explore and honor the multi-layered stories of women, past and present, who have lived and worked along the Erie Canalway.

The past is in conversation with the present as local students and choirs raise their voices with the orchestra: a symphony of community. Events during the day include nature and history walks, yoga, jazz hour on the Wonderful Life bridge, artisanal foods and beverages, and more. Tanner will work with community members in the lead-up to the festival to teach singers their parts and develop a shared biography of place.

Fort Plain - July 5

Dawn Avery champions indigenous heritage inviting participatory Mohawk song and dance.

As part of its collaboration with the New York State Canal Corporation to commemorate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, “Water Music NY: More Voices,” the Albany Symphony invited Mohawk heritage composer-cellist Dawn Avery to Fort Plain in March 19 to meet with community, school, and local government leaders in preparation for a major arts festival and orchestra performance and world premiere to take place at Fort Plain's Lock 15. Dawn Avery will bring indigenous dancers, musicians, and storytellers to the region through the late spring to work with local schools and community members to provide immersive, experiential encounters with traditional Indigenous arts and culture, as she develops her new interactive composition for orchestra and audience. 

On Thursday, May 29 Avery will be joined by singer-songwriter Bear Fox to teach the traditional Mohawk Water Song to students from the Fort Plain Central School District. This Water Song forms the centerpiece of Avery’s specially commissioned composition to be performed by the Symphony during the festival on July 5, and everyone can join the Water Song! The daylong festival on July 5 celebrates the rich indigenous history of the Fort Plain region and of the members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy who lived there for centuries. In the 17th century, Fort Plain was the site of four major Mohawk villages. The Albany Symphony and New York State Canal Corporation are proud and excited to begin a journey of rediscovery, celebrating the uniqueness of Fort Plain and Montgomery County's rich and multifaceted history.

Schuylerville - July 6

Daniel Bernard Roumain uplifts the experience of enslaved people who fought for freedom on the Underground Railroad.

As part of the Erie Canal bicentennial commemoration, the Albany Symphony, the NYS Canal Corporation, and Hudson Crossing Park are presenting a festival day celebrating the rich, multifaceted history of Washington and Saratoga Counties, with an emphasis on the experiences of Black Americans, culminating in a free orchestra concert that will feature a thrilling world-premiere composition by DBR (Daniel Bernard Roumain) inspired by the legacy and life of Solomon Northup. Northup was a free-born Black man, professional fiddler, and farmer from Schuylerville and Saratoga Springs, who was kidnapped into slavery in 1841. Upon his rescue in 1853, he wrote a remarkable memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, describing his ordeal in extraordinary detail. He became a noted abolitionist speaker in the years following his return to New York State. DBR, an accomplished violinist himself and a leading American composer, will create a uniquely collaborative work for the Albany Symphony and audience of massed violins, in which community members are all invited to pick up a violin and join in, even those who have never played before. In addition, the day’s events will celebrate the rich culture of the Schuylerville region, the historic Erie Canal and Hudson River, and the central role the region played during the Revolutionary War during the Battle of Saratoga, the turning point of the Revolution. Violinists and country fiddlers of all kinds will be featured during the day, along with visual artists, history and walking tours, and accessible recreational activities. Artisanal foods and beverages from the region will also be featured.

Thank you to the following sponsors for their generous support of Water Music NY.