Broken Gardens (2025), Dana Kaufman
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Broken Gardens (2025) juxtaposes field recordings of gardens disrupted by fascism across Germany and the United States, colliding personal history with broader political climates. Who, and which gardens, get to grow and thrive? How does the experience of narration and hearing other gardens change your experience of your own environment? Hailed as “whirlwind” (Gramophone), “ingeniously derived” (Sequenza21), and “dramatic…and powerfully funny” (Observer), the works of composer-librettist Dana Kaufman have been heard in North America, Europe, and Asia. Her music has been featured at venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, New York Opera Fest, Contemporary Music Center of Milan, the National Gugak Center (South Korea), Seattle Opera’s Tagney Jones Hall, Jordan Hall, National Opera Week, Hartford Opera Theater, Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall (Croatia), and Ravinia Festival; it has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center/Washington National Opera, GRAMMY-winning pianist Nadia Shpachenko, the Louisville Ballet, Carlow Arts Festival (Ireland), Synchromy, Brightwork New Music, Paradox Opera, and many others.A Fulbright Research Fellow in Estonia, National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, winner of an OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Women Composers: Discovery Grant (supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation), and four-time American Prize honoree, Kaufman has given lectures at the LA Opera, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Leuphana Universität Lüneberg, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and the Music by Women Festival as a frequent speaker on gender diversity in composition and queer opera. She is Associate Professor in Music Composition at University of California, Riverside. danakaufmanmusic.comTorrey Pines, a Boojum Tree, Blue Fan Palms, Muller Oaks, and Canyon Live Oak trees are among the highlights of the Northwest Zone of the CA Plant Communities.
