Kelli Scarr’s “Lesser Mysteries” Series Culminates at Opus 40 May 1

On May 1, under a full moon at Opus 40, composer and vocalist Kelli Scarr will lead a gathering that resists easy categorization. Part performance, part ritual, part communal experiment, it marks the culmination of “Lesser Mysteries,” a spring series unfolding across the Hudson Valley that invites participants—not just audiences—into a shared process of reflection, transformation, and, tentatively, renewal. The project grows out of Scarr’s long career in music—songwriting, film scoring, and performance—but takes a deliberate step away from conventional presentation. “I really just don’t want to play this in a bar,” she says. Instead, the work has evolved into something closer to an initiatory experience, drawing inspiration from ancient rites like the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which participants underwent a structured, communal encounter with mortality and rebirth. That framework first entered Scarr’s orbit while she was developing new material inspired by Maureen Murdoch’s Heroine’s Journey , a counterpoint to Joseph Campbell’s more familiar narrative arc. What began as a concept for an album—songs tracking a cycle of transformation—expanded outward into a larger inquiry: what might it look like to build a contemporary version of those ancient communal rituals here in the Hudson Valley? Last fall, Scarr tested that idea with two sold-out performances of “Greater Mysteries” at Widow Jane Mine. The results, by her account, were difficult to pin down but unmistakable in their impact. Participants described the experience as “alive,” something that lingered well beyond the event itself. “Lesser Mysteries,” the spring iteration, widens the aperture. Rather than a single destination event, it unfolds as a sequence of gatherings leading up to the Opus 40 culmination. The structure mirrors the initiatory arc Scarr is borrowing from: preparation, encounter, and return. Under the full moon at Opus 40, Kelli Scarr’s “Lesser Mysteries” will unfold as a roving, site-responsive r