Touching Leaves Woman by Brent Michael Davids

This new musical work for voice and birdroar instruments by composer Brent Michael Davids honors Nora Thompson Dean (1907-1984), a Lenape teacher and herbalist who dedicated her life to preserving Lenape culture. The sung and spoken lyric consists entirely of her name “Weènchipahkihëlèxkwe” in Unami (Lenape for “downriver people”). Translated, her name was “Touching Leaves Woman” or as Nora herself suggested ‘Leaves-that-touch-each-other-from-time-to-time.’ A hand-notated music manuscript, inked on vellum, is part of the exhibition Nora Thompson Dean: Lenape Teacher and Herbalist and on view before and after each performance. The work runs approximately 20 minutes and will be performed in the Rotunda of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library at 2 PM and in the Morgan Garden at 3 PM (weather permitting).