Sisters Clio and Hannah Berta put on a mixed media concert at Camden Amphitheatre

A late summer Camden tribute to lost youth

Updated with video
Sat, 09/16/2017 - 9:15am

    CAMDEN—Just before dusk, sisters Hannah and Clio Berta, dressed in white, put the finishing touches on their first collaborative mixed media public event at the Camden Amphitheatre on August 29 titled: “Lost and Found.”

    The one-night violin performance and art installation was created as an ode to growing up, leaving the nest, coming back and doing it all over again.

    “Lost and Found celebrates the spirit of childhood and mourns its loss,” said Clio. “I just graduated from college and I wanted to do a celebratory event, sort of like a senior project, but on my own time,” she said. “I’m moving to Tucson for a new job this week and being home and having everyone I grew up with around, I wanted to create something with them.”

    Berta, who has written music on the computer, composed her first piece for the the short violin concert titled “Lost and Found.”

    “It was an experimental contemporary piece and I purposefully asked childhood friends I grew up with to play the piece,” she said.

    Surrounding the backdrop were urns of fresh wildflowers and homemade cupcakes. The centerpiece, a white cut-paper installation was created by Hanna Berta. It was made from muslin, resembling an intricate quilt of lace, lit up with tiny white lights and surrounded on the ground by cuts outs of stars. “Hannah made this a couple of years ago, but it was inspired by the solar system, cycles and stars and we thought it was perfect for last night,” said Clio.

    With patterns and cycles as part of the evening’s theme, each participant was handed a program, that consisted of a handcrafted paper and a particular question. Each question was different. For example: “How do cycles show up in your relationships?” The participant was instructed to answer that question and send it to a loved one with an included envelope and a stamp of the eclipse.

    Clio was raised in Camden and finished her BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art BFA this past May. This week she will move to Arizona to take her first job at ChamberLab, a nonprofit that offers experimental ensemble music to the public outside of the chamber hall.

    “It’s right up my alley,” she said. “It’s experimental, it’s contemporary and you don’t have to be classically trained to be a part of it. So, I will hopefully begin writing music for them.”

    Related story: Hail To The Rad Kids: Meet Chloe and Clio


     Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com