It is true that Mount Auburn is first and foremost a cemetery, but it is also a National Historic Landmark, a botanical garden, an outdoor museum of art and architecture, and an important habitat for urban wildlife. Attend one of our many events and discover for yourself what makes this place so special!
Funding for programs has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
“Mosses and other small beings issue an invitation to dwell for a time right at the limits of ordinary perception. All it requires of us is attentiveness. Look in a certain way and a whole new world can be revealed.” — Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer Join Artist-in-Residence Resa Blatman for an informal pop-up exhibit at Bigelow […]
Join poet and Artist-in-Residence, Carolyn Oliver, for a celebratory outdoor reading of poems composed during her residency. We will begin in Bigelow Chapel with an introduction and brief Q&A between Carolyn and Public Events Producer, Julie-Anne Whitney. Then we’ll make our way outdoors together for a multi-stop reading tour during which Carolyn will read several poems […]
Musician and author David Rothenberg has long explored live performance together with the sounds of nature, from nightingales to humpback whales to cicadas. David will make “music with nature” at two performances at Mount Auburn Cemetery this spring. On April 20th at dawn, he will play with a chorus of singing birds at Consecration Dell*, using his clarinet and some live electronic sounds. At dusk that same day, he will […]
Musician and author David Rothenberg has long explored live performance together with the sounds of nature, from nightingales to humpback whales to cicadas. David will make “music with nature” at two performances at Mount Auburn Cemetery this spring. On April 20th at dawn, he will play with a chorus of singing birds at Consecration Dell*, using his clarinet and some live electronic sounds. At dusk that same day, he will […]
Throughout the past year, Artists-in-Residence Eliza Fichter and Debra Wise have been walking the grounds of Mount Auburn interviewing people about their relationships with the Cemetery and how their reflections on death have shaped their living. The conversations were then crafted into a series of short audio narratives, one for each season of the year. […]
Join Artist-in-Residence Swati Biswas for a traditional Indian dance performance of her work, Seasons of Life, a series of four short dance vignettes that explore the parallels between seasonal change and life phases at Mount Auburn Cemetery. The original choreography will be presented using semi-classical Indian music along with narrative text from the poems “The Rain” by Robert Creeley and “The Day is Done” by […]
Join 2023-2024 Artist-in-Residence Eden Rayz for a death-aware musical performance that celebrates the 100th Anniversary homecoming of the Bigelow Chapel pipe organ* after it was decommissioned by Mount Auburn and reformed by Eden as a new multi-component instrument called Argent and Sable**. Performed alongside the cello with vocals, electronics, and percussionist Austin Birdy, Eden's original compositions, "Aboriginal Sensible […]
Join 2023-2024 Artist-in-Residence Eden Rayz for a death-aware musical performance that celebrates the 100th Anniversary homecoming of the Bigelow Chapel pipe organ* after it was decommissioned by Mount Auburn and reformed by Eden as a new multi-component instrument called Argent and Sable**. Performed alongside the cello with vocals, electronics, and percussionist Austin Birdy, Eden's original compositions, "Aboriginal Sensible […]
"I am not an intellectual, I write with my body," wrote Clarice Lispector in 1977. What is it to write with the body? What is it to drop out of the brain and into bowels (or lower) and write from there? How can we channel our senses to enliven our writing? And how do we […]
“…It is the duty of the living thus to provide for the dead. It is not a mere office of pious regard for others; but it comes home to our own bosoms, as those who are soon to enter upon the common inheritance.” ~Joseph Story, Mount Auburn Cemetery Consecration address, 1831 For nearly two hundred years, […]