Moab Music Festival connects music, nature, and identity
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In Canyonlands National Park, Utah, the Moab Music Festival brought musicians to a grotto carved into red rock to explore American identity through music and nature.
Since 1992, the festival has staged performances in unique outdoor locations, even transporting a grand piano down the Colorado River each year. This year’s theme, “This Land,” commemorates the 250th anniversary of American independence by featuring American composers and genres alongside international influences.
Violinist Tessa Lark, the festival’s artistic director, believes music can connect people to the landscape and to each other. Musicians performed in the grotto, a former seabed with fossilized shark teeth, and on the Colorado River itself. The festival crew prioritizes leaving the natural environment undisturbed, carefully transporting equipment and removing all traces of their presence.
The festival also explored themes of belonging and identity through the work of artists like Andrew Yee, a cellist who performed her program “Halfie” on a riverboat, reflecting on her experiences as a biracial and transgender individual. Lark emphasized that music transcends politics and provides a space for community and artistic expression. The festival ran from September 2 to 18, offering concerts in both natural and indoor venues.
