Sunday, October 26th
6pm-8pm ET
In-Person | FREE*
*Donation Suggested, pricing tiers includes a pre-order of the Album to be shipped at a future date (excluding digital downloads, which will be available at the event)
Album Digital Download | $10
Pre-Order Album CD | $20
Pre-Order Album Vinyl | $50
Please join us for a special pre-release listening of forthcoming album "Be The Sky - ནམ་མཁའ་རང་གི་ངང་དུ་ཞོག།", a musical collaboration between Tibetan artist Tenzin Choegyal and renowned composer Philip Glass.
Born from a musical friendship over two decades, this album unites the ancestral wisdom carried in Choegyal’s nomadic Tibetan voice, Dranyen (“Metok"), and Lingbu (bamboo flute), with the contemplative minimalist orchestrations of Glass. More than just a musical collaboration, "Be the Sky" offers a meditative soundscape drawn from the compassionate spiritual traditions of Tibet. It invites listeners into a reflective space where sound becomes a bridge between cultures, and between the inner and outer worlds.
The album acts as an offering in honor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's 90th Birthday. The album features Alex Ring Gray, Saori Tsukada, the Children of Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamshala, and the Grammy winning Scorchio Quartet, weaving a rich tapestry of voices and chamber instruments that underscore the album’s emotional and spiritual depth.
The title track, "Be The Sky", was composed for the Tibet House Annual Benefit Concert, first premiering at the online edition in 2021, and then live at Carnegie Hall in 2023. The first single, "Snowy Mountains (Gangri)", premiered at the 2025 concert. Choegyal and guest artists will discuss the writing and recording of the music, and hold a Q&A with the audience at the end. "Be the Sky" was created with generous support by The Tibet Fund, The Sea Stone Foundation, The Green Dragons Fund, Orange Mountain Records and many friends and family.
BIOS
Tenzin Choegyal
Tenzin Choegyal is one of the world’s finest musicians in the Tibetan tradition. As a son of Tibetan nomads, he feels a particular connection to the music of the high Himalayan plateau. In a career spanning 20+ years Tenzin has performed at festivals across Australia and curated numerous events and concerts including Brisbane’s annual Festival of Tibet. Internationally he has performed in New Zealand, Japan, India, Germany, Bangladesh, Russia and USA, including performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has also opened many of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Public Talks in Australia, New Zealand and Japan with his musical offerings. While proudly continuing the unbroken nomadic lineage which is central to his repertoire, Tenzin also embraces opportunities to take his music into more contemporary, uncharted territory, both in the studio and on stage.
Tenzin has nine independent albums, three of them with his fusion band Tibet2Timbuk2, and regularly performs with Camerata Brisbane’s acclaimed Chamber Orchestra. His collaborative albums include "The Last Dalai Lama?" with Philip Glass, Peradam album by Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith featuring Anoushka Shankar & Charlotte Gainsbourh and the 2021 Grammy-nominated Songs from the Bardo released through Smithsonian Folkways with his longtime friend and collaborator Jesse Paris Smith and Laurie Anderson – a moving interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. An outstanding composer/ performer with a great depth of musical knowledge, intuition and inventiveness, Tenzin continues to bring new sounds of Tibet while strongly holding the essence of ancient Tibetan wisdom. He attributes his art form to the early karmic imprints of hearing his mother and father as a toddler.
https://www.tenzinchoegyal.com
