June 1, 2007 18:19

Sufjan Stevens to compose music for road

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is his latest muse

Sufjan Stevens is set to compose a piece of music dedicated to a major expressway in New York.

The singer was approached by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to write the piece about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which will accompany a ‘virtual road trip’ film.

Stevens will compose the music which will be played by a live band and orchestra during the film’s premiere screening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in November.

The inspiration behind the piece centers on “abstract patterns and stories in the snaking traffic, potholed pavement, billboards, badly marked exits, and beautiful city views, revealing what happens when Manifest Destiny converges with urban blight,” according to Stevens’website.

An 11.7-mile roadway, the BQE “in Stevens' hands becomes an evocation of the intersection of intimate experience and the American Dream”

--By our New York staff.
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