On Tuesday, June 18th, composer-performer Catherine Brookman shares her album “I Woke Up In the Sky” with Opera Saratoga’s audiences. Her music deals with the experience of time passing, collapsing, unfinished business, heartbreak, loneliness, depression. 

Originally from Baltimore, the classically-trained Brookman weaves a majestic tapestry of folk sounds with ambient landscapes. Her tender lyrics are supported by a warm and delicate string section creating a sonic cocoon, a soft landing place for healing heartbreak that is both soulful and captivating. In her live performances, Brookman loops her own vocals and synthesizer to self-harmonize and form an atmosphere that builds an experimental yet dreamlike texture that transports the audience to another world.

Brookman says: “I used to go to shows and whisper in my friends’ ears when a song faded out, that the implication was it would somewhere, somehow be playing forever. I have always had trouble with endings. On March 12, 2020 I took a train to Montreal with a bag packed for 3 days and didn’t return home for a year and half. I flew to LA, drove to Kanarraville, Utah and stayed in an airstream on a friend's family's farm, then to Colorado where it was snowing in June. I hiked solo for miles around Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California. I saw 6 bears in 3 days while running. I went skydiving and passed out in the sky. Then I woke up in the sky. When I walked alone around mountains, canyons, woods, painful things would transmute into beauty unexpectedly. The river became a mirror. I’m making a case for admitting how much we need each other, for unapologetic vulnerability. The music was made to make us feel less alone.”