New Music USA Online Library

As humankind stands on the precipice of environmental catastrophe, with climate change deniers and monied interests strenuously opposing any efforts to make the fundamental changes that will be necessary to mitigate disaster, what can any ordinary person do but despair? As a composer, my work has become increasingly influenced by world events – the rise in populism, anti-immigration fervor, the ever widening gap between the haves and have nots and our apparent inability to effectively mitigate our impact on the climate.

 

The music is intended as a reminder of our responsibility to serve as protectors rather than destroyers of our Mother Earth. Originally composed for chorus, flute, viola and cello, setting poems by Lola Ridge, Stephen Crane, Carl Sandburg, Jane Hirshfield, May Swenson and Joy Harjo, I later decided on using the same music as a suite for instruments alone.