Opera project draws inspiration from Amenia’s wetlands

AMENIA — Local bogs and fens have quietly supported the town’s environment for thousands of years, storing carbon, absorbing water and preserving records of ecological change. But these fragile wetlands can be damaged quickly.

Christy Gast and other members of Opera Turbia joined the Amenia Conservation Advisory Council for a public meeting Wednesday, Aug. 19, as part of the group’s research for an opera about U.S. wetlands.

The three-act work will premiere at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, known as MASS MoCA, in North Adams, Massachusetts, on Saturday, March 20, 2027. It will be presented as part of an exhibition titled “Until We Get to the Core.”

Opera Turbia is co-directed by Camila Marambio and Ariel Bustamante, with collaborators Gast, Rosario Ureta and Antonia Peón-Veiga. The group’s research has taken its members to peatlands and bogs in Puerto Rico, Tierra del Fuego, the Berkshires and, most recently, Amenia.

The session began with a presentation by ecologist Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch, who explained how bogs and fens formed after glaciers retreated at the end of the Ice Age. Over time, pollen, sphagnum moss and other organic material accumulated in the wetlands, eventually forming peat. Core samples can provide a record of those environmental changes.

Much of the discussion focused on the difference between bogs and fens, both of which can be found in Amenia.

Bogs generally receive most of their water from precipitation, while fens are fed by groundwater or surface water. Both can accumulate peat, store carbon and help regulate water. Fens can also act like sponges, holding water and reducing flooding.

The group discussed Amenia’s ecological history, the environmental value of its wetlands and ways to conserve those resources.

Participants also considered alternatives to peat-based gardening products.

“We’re surrounded by wetlands,” Gast observed.

Resident Vicki Doyle noted that the wetlands south of Freshtown Plaza play an important role in absorbing stormwater runoff.

“It takes thousands of years to create [a bog], but it can be destroyed in a day,” said one resident.

After taking notes on words and phrases shared during the discussion, Natalia Zukerman led a collaborative songwriting workshop. Participants’ observations, memories and ideas became the basis of a song recorded by Opera Turbia that may be incorporated into a chorus at the MASS MoCA installation.

The Arts Mid-Hudson project is supported by the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with support from the governor’s office and the New York State Legislature.

For more info, contact cgast@ameniany.gov.