The New Immigrant Experience, the remarkable eighth release by renowned composer Felipe Salles, is a powerful new multimedia work inspired by the lives of “Dreamers,” the almost seven hundred thousand individuals currently protected by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The two CD/DVD set, featuring the 18-piece Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble, was released on March 20, 2020 via Tapestry Records.

Written by Salles –who emigrated from Brazil to the United States in 1995 – and developed with the aid of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, the work uses speech cadences and melodic motifs based on key words as its main source of musical material. The compelling and personal stories it tells were collected through interviews Salles conducted with a group of nine Dreamers during the summer of 2018. Videos of the interviews were created by Fernanda Faya. Individual stories and experiences of growing up bilingual and undocumented also informed musical choices.

It’s an emotional musical journey through beautiful orchestral textures, carefully developed motifs, and intense solo features, that combine the power of a big band recording and the dramatic landscape of a soundtrack.

Premiered in April 2018 at performances in New York City and Massachusetts, The New Immigrant Experience was subsequently recorded in the studio. The recording was then recombined with live video excerpts, creating an experience that gives full-throated voice to immigrant groups in the United States today.

Salles gained firsthand knowledge of the issues surrounding DACA and the Dreamers after befriending classical pianist Tereza Lee, the original inspiration behind the DREAM Act. After writing The Lullaby Project (2018), a large-scale work inspired by the cross-generational importance of Brazilian lullabies as part of a cultural identity for immigrant families like Salles’, The New Immigrant Experience was a natural continuation of his artistic vision and the perfect vehicle to contribute to the discussion regarding the place and value of immigrants in America during these turbulent political times.

The New Immigrant Experience is a complete work of art, whether one experiences the music alone or in combination with the DVD, or in live performance with videos projected behind the band.