ASCENT is a classical music experience that radically increases the accessibility of traditional choral concerts. The chronology, duration, volume, and length of the music is determined by each individual listener using headphones and the Echoes app, providing unprecedented agency over the concert experience. Individuals who are not neuro-typical, who may be too young to attend a seated concert, or who have not historically felt drawn to a traditional concert environment are empowered to craft their own experience.

The music and poetry of ASCENT was inspired by composer Divya Maus’ relationship to the Rocky Mountains, first as an immigrant from Germany, a local, and then a returning visitor from her times living at sea level in Los Angeles in New York. Boulder is famous for its athletic, mountain-obsessed citizens who are altered on a biological level by their environment; their skin is weathered by the high-altitude sun and dryness, their blood oxygenation and lung efficiency by the thin air, their homes rocked by the high wind channels that descend on the plains from the mountains, and the epic thunderstorms which lead to more lightning strike fatalities than almost any other state in the country.
Incorporating this striking interaction of nature and humanity, ASCENT is comprised of 3 choral movements and 15 individual ‘sound bubbles’:

1. “Comes the Water” explores the life of the Boulder Creek, embodying first the slow snowmelt in the mountains, the run-off gathering speed and force through the spring when the water runs high and rapid, and then the settling and drying of the creek in the summer.

2. “Ascent” evokes the experience of climbing a peak; the sound of lungs pumping, of the circulatory system in high gear, and of the mind as it pushes the body to reach the summit.

3. “Vista” concludes the choral suite with an ode to the mountains and the effect they have on the humans who live on them. The view of the Flatiron Mountains from Boulder is a stunning spectacle, not only to artists and climbers, but also to the scientific community who count this awe-inspiring mountain range formed of conglomeratic sandstone 300-million years ago as one of the foremost natural wonders of the world,

The 15 sound bubbles separating the choral movements are vocally-produced sound scapes. Listeners tread sonic channels on their way across the installation which evoke the natural sounds and sensations of our environment, including ‘Soft Rainfall,’ ‘Wind in a Valley,’ ‘Hummingbird Passage,’ and ‘Hot Air Shimmers.’

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ASCENT is installed in Scott Carpenter Park, a public nature space at the heart of Boulder’s bike-path and public transportation system easily accessible to residents and visitors from all over Boulder County. There are two versions of ASCENT: a “field” version in which listeners navigate the grassy open space and can sit, wander, and even lie down at their leisure, and a “wheel-friendly” version in which all the same music is installed exclusively on the web of paved bike paths around the park, enabling listeners using wheelchairs, walking aids, or pushing strollers to experience ASCENT as well.
ASCENT was composed by Divya Maus for the Colorado chamber choir Ars Nova Singers, conducted, recorded, and mixed by Tom Morgan, and mastered by Grammy-winning mastering engineer David Glasser.
ASCENT is supported by Create Boulder and the Boulder Visitors and Events Bureau.