Root Song

Root Song is presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Penn Live Arts, directed by Jazimina Creamer-MacNeil, with Roomful of Teeth, composer Chris Theofanidis, poet Melissa Studdard, Siksika artist and storyteller Tchin, and theatre-maker Brett Ashley Robinson, and premiered at Bartram’s Garden in May 2026. Root Song interweaves live vocal chamber music and storytelling to create an experience of listening to the wisdom of our forests. Illuminated by ground-breaking research in the mycorrhizal networks that connect trees and inspired by the heritage of Indigenous Knowledge, it invites people to consider the mysteries of our natural world. The work of scientists and authors Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass) and Dr. Suzanne Simard (Finding the Mother Tree) provides the impetus for this project, combining Western Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to explore humanity’s relationship with our forests. This project seeks to illuminate a path to an honorable and reciprocal relationship with the commonwealth of life by attending to what the trees and the original stewards of this land have to teach us about living in community. Panel discussions, nature walks, and workshops will provide experiences to consider how forests thrive, and how to generate new visions for ecological restoration.