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

  • Dutch pavilion at Intertraffic focuses on smart mobility
    March 3, 2016
    The Netherlands has the ambition to head the field in the area of cooperative ITS and smart mobility. The country needs innovative mobility solutions to keep its urban delta open, healthy and safe and to support economic growth. For the Netherlands, ITS creates an opportunity to foster innovation and strengthen its competitive position within supplier- and after-markets. Thanks to the country’s highly developed and dense traffic network, the Netherlands is eminently suitable as a development and large-scale
    Read More
  • ITS World Congress – programme highlights webinar and executive sessions
    August 19, 2015
    Ertico-ITS has arranged a programme highlights webinar to give participants an overview of the sessions, speakers, events and activities organised for the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux. On Wednesday 4 September at 1300 CEST, senior Congress Programme advisor Eric Sampson and director of Congresses Didier Gorteman will walk you through this year’s exciting programme by highlighting some of the most engaging sessions and events of the week.
    Read More
  • Mexico and the US slow to adopt ETC interoperability
    April 12, 2013
    Splinteroperability is a word devised by Travis P. Dunn and Victor J. Michelet C. to encapsulate the lack of progress towards ETC harmonisation in the US and Mexico. Five thousand miles of tolled roads and bridges. Widespread implementation of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems. One dominant interoperable ETC service provider covering just over half the nation’s toll facilities. Numerous other ETC service providers offering alternative visions of interoperability. Years of customer requests for better
    Read More
  • New technology and economics at ITS World Congress 2011
    January 19, 2012
    ITS America prepares for the 18th World Congress on ITS and 2011 Annual Meeting, 16-20 October 2011, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida. In the final moments of the 2008 ITS World Congress in New York City, organisers and planning committee members quietly celebrated the conclusion of another extremely successful event for the ITS industry. In spite of the economic climate at the time, the 2008 World Congress was well attended by delegates from 66 countries and yielded impressive results than
    Read More

Highlighted Content