June 21: Garden of Memory – Beloved Summer Solstice Concert Presented by New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes
Photo credit: Ted Sapphire
Garden of Memory
Beloved Bay Area Concert Set for Summer Solstice on June 21
Presented by New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes
Celebrating Performers and Composers of the Bay Area
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 5-9pm
Chapel of the Chimes | 4499 Piedmont Avenue | Oakland, CA
Parking is limited. Public transit and carpooling are recommended.
Tickets ($20 general, $15 students & seniors, $5 children 5-12) available through Eventbrite.
No tickets sales on-site; online sales only; Limited to 3000 Tickets
More information: www.gardenofmemory.com
Oakland, CA – On Saturday, June 21, 2025 from 5-9pm, New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes present Garden of Memory at the Chapel of the Chimes (4499 Piedmont Avenue). The beloved annual summer solstice celebration commemorates the year’s longest day with an exciting and inspiring variety of musical performances. Tickets, which will be available through online sales only, are limited to 3000. There is no waitlist.
Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a walk-through fun house of musical and visual splendor” and by the East Bay Times as “the best party of the year,” this highly anticipated and regularly sold-out solstice event features an abundance of performances happening concurrently throughout the gorgeous grounds of the Chapel of the Chimes. Composers, musicians, sound artists, and other performers present a wide assortment of music – acoustic, solo, group, electronic – sound installations, and interactive events. Those in attendance are free to explore the multilevel labyrinth of the iconic columbarium’s interior gardens, cloisters, stairwells, fountains, alcoves, pools, and antechambers during the performances. There is no formal schedule and artists are tucked into virtually every available space, leading to a myriad of possibilities around how each person can plot out their journey and personal experience with the music throughout the day.
Since 1996, New Music Bay Area, a nonprofit organization which provides opportunities and information to composers and performers of new music throughout the Bay Area, has hosted the Garden of Memory solstice concert every year on June 21. Board president and Bay Area-based pianist Sarah Cahill came up with the idea after wandering into the Chapel of the Chimes, and now Cahill and fellow board member Lucy Farber Mattingly organize the concert each year, in collaboration with the small board of New Music Bay Area and the Chapel of the Chimes.
Cahill recalls, “As I meandered around the building, I heard distant organ music, and tried to follow the sound to its source, through a labyrinth of magical gardens and gothic alcoves with the afternoon light filtering through stained glass. I imagined putting musicians all around this maze, so that when you turn a corner you might encounter a string quartet or an electronic music installation or a Georgian choir. So that's what we did.”
Highlights of this year’s performers and programming include:
Sarah Cahill is a “fiercely gifted” (New York Times) pianist and champion of new music. She has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. For her performance, Cahill will fill the gorgeous Chimes Chapel with the sounds of composer Terry Riley’s music in honor of his 90th birthday on June 24. Cahill’s program will include Be Kind to One Another, Keyboard Studies, and Fandango on the Heaven Ladder.
Esotérica Tropical (created by singer-songwriter María José Montijo) is a queer Boricua bruja who transcends musical boundaries with her commanding voice, intuitive folk harp, and a fusion of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba rhythms and electronic innovation. Her work boldly challenges colonial mentality, advocating for sovereignty and surrealism.
Kaitlin McSweeney is a visual artist, musician and writer. She works in several healing modalities (yoga, meditation, astrology, tarot) and is inspired by collaboration. As part of her performance, McSweeney will invite listeners to contribute notes, prayers, and wishes on small strips of paper, and then integrate their words into voice and cello loops, gradually creating an altar of sorts.
The Cornelius Cardew Choir is a SF Bay Area-based vocal performance ensemble that sings at the intersection of community and experimental music, strongly influenced by Cardew and his circle in the 1960s in England. Inspired by the experimental music tradition, Pauline Oliveros, John Cage and others, the Cardew Choir intends their mutually supportive work to be compassionate, joyful and liberating political action. The choir will invite audience members to join them during a four-hour performance of Pauline Oliveros' Heart Chant, the first time the ensemble has performed it indoors since the pandemic.
Liu Xi「柳溪」(Willow Stream) Diana Rowan and Winnie Wong form a dynamic duo that merges the ethereal sounds of the Celtic harp and the timeless resonance of the Chinese guzheng. Drawing upon their rich cultural heritages, they create a musical experience that transcends borders and eras, blending Chinese and Celtic traditions with the vibrant, multicultural energy of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Matt Robidoux is a San Francisco based composer, improviser, and educator interested in the convergence of movement and sound as it relates to free improvisation and accessibility. Their primary instrument is the “corn synth” — (Kinetically Operated Randomness Network) a modular system that interprets physical input from two “ears of corn” sculptures cast in aluminum. Physical interactions with the architecture will directly translate into sound—each movement of the body intertwined in acoustic events revealing the unique resonant qualities of these sacred spaces.
Additional artists confirmed to perform this year, many of whom are familiar in the Bay Area, include:
The Dennis Aman/Andy Meyerson Problem; Amendola/Manring/Evangelista Trio; Anne Hege, Julie Herndon & Rachel Beetz; Beth Custer; Brenda Hutchinson and the dailybell ensemble; Cornelius Cardew Choir; duo B.; Dylan Mattingly; Edward Schocker; Fred Frith Trio; freeHorn Ensemble (Krys Bobrowski, Giacomo Fiore, Amy Beal and guests); Gino Robair‘s Radical Divination; Harmonic Drift; Jens Ibsen & Tin Yi Chelsea Wong; Joel St. Julien; John Benson’s Vibrating Milk; John Schott & Cecilia Engelhart; Kaitlin McSweeney; Kitka; Kristin Norderval; Laura Inserra; Liam Herb; Majel Connery + Jonathan Vinocour; Matt McBane; Matt Robidoux; The Mycos Project; Orchestra Nostalgico; Pamela Z; Paul Dresher & Joel Davel; Plonsey Scheme (Dan Plonsey & family); Randy Porter; Ray-Kallay Duo; Regular Music; Rova Saxophone Quartet; Shanti Lalita; Sidney Chen; SoRIAH with Thomas Dimuzio; Stephen Kent; Thea Farhadian; Theresa Wong & Kanoko Nishi-Smith; Wayne Grim; Wendy Reid, Lulu & the Bird Ensemble; and Xxhe; Zachary James Watkins.
Garden of Memory offers a unique and personal musical experience to every listener roving freely through the Chapel of the Chimes. Getting lost is part of the experience as guests climb up and down the three floors of this Oakland Historic Landmark building and its unique architectural elements, which rise into vaulted ceilings. Seamless in feel, there are three separate design sections created by four architects; Cunningham & Politeo 1909, Julia Morgan 1926-1951 (consulting until her retirement 1951), Aaron Green 1956-1986 and JST Architects 1986-1998. In the older section the complexity of chapels, columbaria, and mausoleum areas are adorned with murals, paintings, sculpture, mosaics, California tile and 16th century antiquities. All architectural and garden areas have excellent acoustics and are illuminated by gentle natural light, often through beautiful arrangements of stained glass.
Drawing crowds of over four thousand people in past years (including a large number of children), Garden of Memory has become a favorite summer solstice celebration for Bay Area audiences. Information about performances, directions, parking, accessibility, food/beverage, and is available at www.gardenofmemory.com.
Chapel of the Chimes, the largest above-ground cemetery west of the Mississippi, started out as a street car station and became the California Memorial Crematorium and Columbarium in 1909. The property was expanded and transformed by Julia Morgan and later, Aaron Green – a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright. The lobby and hallways feature artwork by Diego Rivera, a marble table top from the Medici family crest and a page from the Gutenberg Bible.
The facility’s numerous chapels, columbaria, and mausoleum areas are adorned with antiquities that date back to the 16th century. All architectural and garden areas have excellent acoustics and are illuminated by gentle natural light, often through beautiful arrangements of stained glass.