The Birds

Just before Christmas, I turned the page of the art calendar on my desk and was surprised to see a piece called The Bird’s Concert, (circa 1600) by Frans Snyders. Of course, I immediately thought of Bill Cahn’s piece The Birds that features the calls of Snyders’ birds plus a few dozen more! You can hear Bill’s Birds on three NEXUS recordings: Voices, Best of NEXUS, and The Story of Percussion (with the Rochester Philharmonic). At the recent NEXUS concert with the Windsor Symphony, a real-life bird was so intrigued that he flew into the rehearsal hall from the loading dock and sat on the gong to have a listen.