The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway - so good, they wrote a symphony about it

Highways and driving feature heavily in popular song - from '60s surf groups to modern hip-hop - but how many roads get classical music written about them? Sufjan Stevens' The BQE is the honourable exception...
January 26, 2024

THE BQE- A FILM BY SUFJAN STEVENS


The BQE is a mixed-medium artistic exploration of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway by Sufjan Stevens. The project originally manifested in the form of a live show, performed on November 1–3, 2007. The show consisted of an original film, directed and written by Stevens, accompanied by an orchestra performing a live soundtrack.

The album recording was made after the rehearsals for the show. It was recorded live during a one-day session in Legacy Studios' A509 orchestral suite (since closed and demolished) with most of the group in the same large room together.

A multimedia package of The BQE was released on October 20, 2009. The set consists of a CD of the show's soundtrack, a DVD of Brooklyn-Queen Expressway footage that accompanied the original performance (not a film of the performance itself), a 40-page booklet with liner notes and photos, and a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel. There is also a limited edition version that features the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl and a 40-page BQE-themed comic book starring the show's hula-hooping wonder women, The Hooper Heroes.

The BQE was called a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn–Queens Expressway." 

The BQE was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival.

Related Content

  • Looking forward to CARTES 2014 in Europe, Asia and America
    November 20, 2013
    2014 will see CARTES events in Asia and America – and don’t forget to put a note in your diary for CARTES Secure Connexions Event 2014 to be held from 4 to 6 November in Paris Welcome to Day 3 of the CARTES Secure Connexions Event 2013. This is the last day of the show and we hope you have enjoyed everything so far - and will continue to get a great deal out of the sessions and conferences. We are proud to announce that we have excellent indicators in terms of registered visitor numbers at the show. Gen
    Read More
  • Report: 'Red-light cameras have reduced crashes’
    February 27, 2013
    From the beginning, the SafeLight and SafeSpeed programs in the Louisiana city of Lafayette have met with controversy and resistance. However, a newly released report shows that the programs, which began in 2007, have reduced crashes at monitored intersections and improved the city's finances. A new contract with Redflex, the company that runs the program, will provide cameras at four new locations and will deploy two more speed vans by 2016. “We believe that SafeLight and SafeSpeed, the so-called red-light
    Read More
  • Asecap Days 2025: 'Vision Zero is not a number, it’s about a culture'
    May 29, 2025
    Saving lives and saving road infrastructure were two of the topics at the second and last day of the annual conference of Asecap, the European road tolling association, in Spanish capital Madrid
    Read More
  • Monitoring during construction reveals benefits of new expressway
    June 6, 2014
    David Crawford reports on how the authorities in New Zealand are using Bluetooth technology to monitor the effects of a new expressway as it is being constructed. New Zealand Highway Agency (NZHA) is using Bluetooth-based vehicle detection to assess the impact of its biggest road building project as the various sections are completed. The large-scale deployment of a Bluetooth-based vehicle detection system is making substantial contributions to traffic data needs in progressing the new Waikato Expressway, a
    Read More

Highlighted Content