Music for a Ghost River

Music Composition, Performance

/ 2026
Musicians Bruce Willen, Jess Keyes, and Jason Charney performing Music for a Ghost River in the BMA Sculpture Garden in front of a black triangular Tony Smith sculpture. Dozens of people lay on the grass listening.

A performance for three musicians and a buried creek under the BMA Sculpture Garden

Music For a Ghost River is a site-specific performance constructed around the sounds of a buried stream that runs below the Baltimore Museum of Art Sculpture Garden. The piece premiered April 30, 2026 at the BMA.

Through microphones dropped down a storm sewer, three musicians use the hidden waters of this creek as an instrument, variously accompanying, manipulating, mixing, and expanding its sounds through a combination of acoustic instruments (flute, saxophone, guitar, harmonium, etc.), live sampling, and electronics.

Musicians Bruce Willen, Jess Keyes, and Jason Charney each playing synthesizers, performing Music for a Ghost River in the BMA Sculpture Garden
Musicians Bruce Willen, Jess Keyes, and Jason Charney performing Music for a Ghost River in the BMA Sculpture Garden in front of a black triangular Tony Smith sculpture. Dozens of people lay on the grass listening.

This performance builds on the work of Ghost Rivers, my public art project that visualizes the lost path of the buried stream Sumwalt Run. The first site of this 1.5-mile-long installation is located just south of the BMA at Wyman Park Dell. A small branch of Sumwalt Run flows under the Sculpture Garden before emptying into the large sewer where the stream’s waters are now hidden.

Musicians Bruce Willen, Jess Keyes, and Jason Charney performing Music for a Ghost River in the BMA Sculpture Garden surrounded by greenery
Jess Keyes playing flute in the BMA Sculpture Garden
Bruce Willen playing harmonium in the BMA Sculpture Garden in front of a black triangular Tony Smith sculpture
Jess Keyes playing baritone sax in the BMA Sculpture Garden

I created a prose and visual score to shape the performance, collaborating with musicians Jason Charney and Jess Keyes to develop the final sonic form and instrumentation of this site-specific piece. As Music For a Ghost River’s composition evolves across four movements, it echoes the history of Sumwalt Run itself. At times the voice of the water speaks alone. At others, it is punctuated by a chorus of instruments that recall the riparian ecosystem that existed before its burial. And in other instances, its sounds are buried under layers of electronics and effects — much like Sumwalt Run has been obscured from the landscape.

Visual score for Music for a Ghost River, Ground movement
Visual score for Music for a Ghost River, Riparian movement
Visual score for Music for a Ghost River, Burial movement
Visual score for Music for a Ghost River, Daylight movement

For the April 30 premier, visitors were invited to bring blankets and lawnchairs, and spread throughout the peaceful environment of the Sculpture Garden to experience moments of contemplation and deep listening. The early evening sunlight filtered through the trees as gusts of wind added their own breaths to the reeds played by the musicians.

Musicians Bruce Willen, Jess Keyes, and Jason Charney performing Music for a Ghost River in the BMA Sculpture Garden in front of a black triangular Tony Smith sculpture. Dozens of people lay on the grass listening quietly

We began and ended the performance by listening quietly to the unaccompanied sounds of the buried stream through the PA.

Bruce Willen playing harmonium, looking up at trees in the BMA Sculpture Garden in front of a black triangular Tony Smith sculpture

Concept + composition: Bruce Willen
Musicians: Jason Charney (flute, electronics), Jess Keyes (baritone sax, electronics, banjo), Bruce Willen (harmonium, guitar, percussion, walkie talkies, electronics)
Audio engineer: Al Schatz
Photos by Marie Machin (courtesy Baltimore Museum of Art)
Video by Nick Hughes and Paul Hutson (courtesy Baltimore Museum of Art)
Commissioned by Baltimore Museum of Art

Birney-Willen