A River Runs Through It: World Premiere of Black River Suite Features Five Area Performing Arts Groups in a Celebration of the Black River Watershed, Saturday, May 6, 3 P.M., at the Stocker Center By Marci Janas and Linda Shockley Photos by Linda Shockley and Michael Dwyer '97
	RELATED A River Runs Through It Black River Suite: Poem by Lynn Powell Con Portrait: Joanne Erwin   Black River Suite: Composition by Anna Rubin		Joanne Erwin conducts Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra If you live in Oberlin and the surrounding areas all the way to Lake Erie, you live in the Black River watershed. And even if your family has lived here for four generations, in the larger scheme of time, you are a newcomer. All of us living today in the Black River watershed are newcomers. More than 360 million years ago, ancient seas covered this land. Two million years ago, two-thirds of what we today call Ohio was covered by a thick sheet of ice during the Glacial Age. ..and the story continues… The public is invited to witness the culmination of two years of work with the world premiere of Black River Suite at Lorain County Community College's Stocker Center, Saturday, May 6, at 3 p.m. The Suite was commissioned to celebrate the history and geology of the Black River watershed and is part of a multi-media piece called Water Song: The Story of the Canesadooharie. The concert will also showcase pieces by George Gershwin. Five area performing arts groups--the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra (NOYO), Ohio Dance Theatre, the MAD Factory, Choral Spectrum and Oberlin Choristers - had a hand in creating this production. The Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA) assisted with the set design. Primary project leaders include Joanne Erwin, associate professor and director of the Conservatory's Music Education program, Brad Masi, project coordinator for the Environmental Studies program, associate professor of composition Anna Rubin, award-winning poet Lynn Powell and professor of singing Richard Anderson. Tickets are available at the door and are $6 for adults, $3 for students, and $4 for seniors. Call the NOYO office, 440/775-3059, for additional information. The Stocker Center is located at Lorain County Community College. Water Song was made possible by generous grants from The Ohio Arts Council, The Nord Foundation, and the Stocker Foundation.   Scenes from a watershed: Wheat Field Black River Suite The Black River watershed: Where is it? What does it look like? Why should we care about it? See photos and read more about the history and geology of our home on the Environmental Studies program pages. Of special note: watch for the upcoming publication of Explorations of a Watershed: The Natural History of the Black River, a major undertaking of the Black River Watershed Education Project, which explores the history, geology, and beauty of the Black River. The project is a partnership between Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program and Seventh Generation, a Lorain County-based environmental organization, coordinated by Brad Masi project coordinator for the environmental studies program. How do you - through music - depict the gradual freezing of a world as the Glacial Age begins? How do you depict the thaw and the subsequent burgeoning of plants? Find out how Anna Rubin created the music for Black River Suite. (Audio clips included) Award-winning poet Lynn Powell used Explorations as primary text and research material, and worked with area children in creating the poem "Black River Suite." Below is just a sample; see the entire poem… Once upon a time, before human time, Ohio was a shallow sea, teeming with strange life. Rivulets and creeks, rivers and torrents emptied into that sea, bringing with them tiny souvenirs of far-off peaks and rain-washed ridges.
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