Robert Winn

Q: Which borough has a symphony?

A: Queens, of course.

The group of conspirators pictured above joined forces to create “1001 Voices: A Symphony for Queens,” a free performance featuring a 190-person choir, to take place at Queens College this Sunday.

Judith Sloan, the librettist for the project said she had always been inspired by the borough. “I wrote the lyric ‘give me your children orphaned by war,'” Sloan said, “if you live you here you understand that.”

On tape, the music shines, as performed by the Queens Symphony Orchestra. The choir is composed of Queens College students who sing in English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic — there are even traditional ethnic folk instruments included in the piece.

It’s not often that one hears 190 Queens people singing together, and the blend of voices is the diversity of Queens itself.

“Everybody on my block is from a different country,” said Sloan, who lives in Sunnyside. “Whoever you are on the 7 train, you are a minority and I think there is a level of curiosity,” she added. It is in this way that “Queens is psychologically far from Manhattan, even if it takes only 15 minutes to get there.”

Sloan has lived in Queens since 1990, and though she has garnered acclaim for her work both within and outside the borough, she said it’s often hard to bring a crowd home.

“People from Queens will come to Manhattan to see me do a piece about Queens,” she said laughing. “This is a problem that you need to write about on your blog. There is a problem of communication and community.”

When Sloan was on WNYC’s Soundcheck this week, host, John Schaefer told her that the city once ran a bus from Manhattan to BAM in Brooklyn to help support the arts in the outer borough. “Maybe City Council needs to help the Queens art scene by helping with transportation,” she said.

So how exactly would you get to Sunday’s Queens College performance from Brooklyn?

“You would have to get on the L, then the G and then take a bus,” she said. “I say take a train, then a bus, hire a sherpa and then you’ll be there.”

Good thing we don’t live in Brooklyn.

Take a listen to see what “1001 Voices: A Symphony for Queens” sounds like.

Photo: Robert Winn

Animation/Video: Warren Lehrer


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment