Event
Breath of Lineage: A Sonic Offering
2:00pm — 3:00pm
Sonia Gomes, Ó Abre Alas (detail), 2025. Courtesy the artist, Mendes Wood DM, and Pace Gallery. Installation view at Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY. Photo by Jacob Vitale courtesy of Storm King Art Center
Join us at Storm King for an unforgettable performance that animates Ó Abre Alas!, the groundbreaking first large-scale outdoor installation in the U.S. by celebrated Afro-Brazilian artist Sonia Gomes.
Staged on Museum Hill amid Gomes’ sculptural installation—where threads of fabric, memory, and ancestry entwine—Breath of Lineage brings together visionary saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins with acclaimed writer and poet Mahogany L. Browne.
In an electrifying call and response with the land and Gomes’ work, Wilkins and Browne will move the audience through sound, language, rhythm, and presence, summoning the spiritual frequencies embedded in her art.
This is more than a performance—it’s a ceremonial offering, a living altar of sound and movement, a resonant celebration of Black imagination, resilience, and interconnected lineage unfurling under the open sky.
Ó Abre Alas! is curated by Nora R. Lawrence, Executive Director of Storm King & Larry Ossei-Mensah, Guest Curator with curatorial assistance from Adela Goldsmith.
Bios
Mahogany L. Browne, a MacDowell Arts Advocacy Awardee, is a writer, playwright, organizer, & educator. Browne received fellowships from All Arts, Arts for Justice, Air Serenbe, Baldwin for the Arts, Cave Canem, Hawthornden, Poets House, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, Wesleyan University, & UCross. Browne’s books include Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky (optioned for a play by Steppenwolf Theater), Black Girl Magic, and banned books Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice and Woke Baby. Founder of the diverse lit initiative Woke Baby Book Fair, Browne’s poetry collection, Chrome Valley (highlighted in Publishers Weekly and The New York Times), is the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize winner, and she is most excited to tour her newest YA Novel in Story A Bird in the Air . Mahogany L. Browne holds an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree awarded by Marymount Manhattan College, and is the inaugural poet-in-residence at Lincoln Center.
Saxophonist & composer Immanuel Wilkins burst onto the musical scene in 2020 with his Blue Note debut, Omega which was named the best jazz release of 2020 by the New York Times. Constantly seeking out creative connections within and outside the world of Jazz, Wilkins has worked with filmmakers Cauleen Smith & Ja’Tovia Gary; the sculptrice Kennedy Yanko; the painter Leslie Hewitt and the interdisciplinary artist, Theaster Gates. These collaborations have played a decisive role in his ever-expanding aesthetic vision. In 2022, Wilkins released his sophomore album on Blue Note, The 7th Hand. Like his debut release, it topped numerous year-end lists. In 2023, Wilkins was awarded with three Downbeat Critics Poll Awards including Best Alto Saxophonist and in 2024 his quartet won the prize for best international live act by the Deutscher Jazz Preis. In Fall 2024, Wilkins released his 3rd and arguably his most adventurous recording to date: Blues Blood. Co-produced by Meshell Ndgeocello, Wilkins’ latest album features his quartet along with vocalists Yay Agyeman, Ganavya and June McDoom and special guests: Cécile McLorin Savant, Chris Dave and Marvin Sewell. Blues Blood was nominated for best international recording of the year by the Deutscher Jazz Preiss and was among the 3 finalists for the L’Académie de Jazz’s “ Prix Évidence. In 2024, Immanuel was also honored by the editors of Jazz News and Jazz Magazine as the best international jazz musician of the year.
ACCESSIBILITY
Restrooms
The indoor restrooms on Museum Hill are equipped with somewhat accessible stalls. These stalls include grab bars but are too narrow to accommodate the full turning radius of most wheelchairs. ADA portable restroom stalls are located at the base of Museum Hill near the picnic pavilion.
Terrain and Getting Around
Museum Hill can be accessed via paved paths as well as the elevator near the South Fields. The performance will be on mostly level grass and will be a short distance from the paved pathway.
If you have questions or need other accommodations, please email info@stormkingartcenter.org.