UnionDocs

Chorus of Refuge is a sound installation that transmits the stories of six refugees,
living in different cities across the U.S. to six radios. The voices of the refugees are
superimposed and coordinated in both rhythm and tonality to unite their narratives
of struggle, survival and triumph.

The first movement is called: AfghanistanBurmaBurundiIraqSomaliaSudan

Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler are public radio producers and media artists based
in Brooklyn and Boston. Their work focuses upon the overlooked stories of everyday

America, from the Mexican border to the South Side of Chicago, from people’s memories
of their first childhood songs to the experiences of refugees across the nation.
These stories and long-form documentaries have aired nationally and internationally
on public radio shows including: NPR’s Morning Edition and Day to Day,
APM’s Weekend America and Marketplace, BBC’s A World in Your Ear,
WNYC’s Radio Lab and Studio 360 and many others.

Their work has won awards from Peabody, RTNDA, NFCB, PRNDI,
Associated Press and the Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCIAF).
Currently, Kara and Ann are producers and hosts for Hearing Voices
from NPR and producers for APM’s Weekend America.

Jason Cady is a composer of dramatic vocal works and experimental chamber music.
His focus on the voice coincides with his interest in combining mediums. In his recent operas, he has set colloquial American vernacular, canned laughter, and Foley sound effects within the context of Baroque operatic forms to reveal the unexpected in the mundane. He balances his intuitive decisions with formalist procedures to discover novel material and give shape to the amorphous.

Cady has an M.A. from Wesleyan University, where he studied composition
with Alvin Lucier and Anthony Braxton. His undergraduate degree is in
Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance from Arizona State University,
where he studied composition with Richard Lerman and Harold Budd,
in addition to training in visual art. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York

This sound installation is free of charge and is brought to you in collaboration
with Free103point9, as part of the Wave Farm Artist Residency.