Melanie Dyer’s “Incalculable Likelihood” is set to get performances on Dec. 5 and 6, 2025 at Mabou Mines in New York City.

The work is an improvised oratorio, featuring tape recordings of Dyer’s grandmother singing sacred songs she wrote as a member of the Church of God and Saints of Christ, a 120-year-old African American community in Virginia. The piece originally premiered at the 2024 Vision Festival, after which director Sandye Wilson joined to expand the libretto and stage direction. Wilson will direct this set of performances.

The performance will be headlined by Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Carla Cook, along with Gwen Laster and Charlie Burnham on violin, Teddy Rankin-Parker on cello, Ken Filiano on bass, JD Parran on winds and reeds, Shanyse Strickland on French horn, Alexis Marcelo on piano, Nikolas Francis on percussion, and vocalists Kyoko Kitamura, Carla Cook, and Jason Walker.

Incalculable Likelihood is supported by the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA Support for Artists, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Howard Gilman Foundation, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the Herb Alpert Foundation / Ragdale Prize.

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