Free Event & New Music Video for Earth Day!

Since the start of 2020, Landscape Music’s composers have been commemorating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with projects engaging environmental themes at the forefront of our global consciousness.

Our activities culminate this week with the 51st Earth Day! In this post, explore our:

  • Free online event this Wednesday (4/21)
  • Music video release
  • Round-up of featured Earth Year projects
  • Spotlights on the newest members of our network

Free Event This Wednesday, 4/21

U.S. Forest Service & VCAF present Earth Year Visions of the Wild Film and Arts Festival
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at 5:00pm PDT
Learn more and register now

Composers from Landscape Music and musicians from Citywater, Sacramento’s premier new music ensemble, present their work in a free online event with the Visions of the Wild Film and Arts Festival, presented by the U.S. Forest Service and Vallejo Community Arts Foundation.

The audience will hear the World Premiere performances of two brand new works for flute and cello by Juhi Bansal and Daniel Morel, celebrating diverse locales from the biosphere reserves of the Azores to the apple orchards of Missouri. Composers Nell Shaw Cohen, Derek Keller, and Ryan Suleiman will introduce excerpts from their works, which respond to Andy Goldsworthy’s land art; the Sacramento watershed; and the devastation of the 2017 Sonoma wildfires, respectively.

This live presentation will conclude with an audience Q&A. Join us!


New Music Video by Anne Vanschothorst

Windmill

JUST RELEASED! Video “more birds more happiness” highlights sustainable energy through the beauty of wind power. New music for harp and soundscapes by Landscape Music composer Anne Vanschothorst are paired with film & photography of wind turbines in Zeeland, Netherlands.

“Between nature and music there is a mysterious, irreplaceable and eternal mystical connection. Besides conducting a symphony of sounds, nature gives, just like music, a source of inspiration and a place to be oneself.” Read more & watch the video!


More Earth Year Projects from Our Artists

In YouTube series Reflections on Music and NatureRyan Suleiman interviews composers, performers, and musical curators about the role of the natural world in their work in these troubled times.

 

Christina Rusnak‘s two new works for chamber ensemble, Dune and Water and Stone, are inspired by her time in Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park.

 

Michael Futreal‘s short film Sentinels features animated photography scored with new music, evoking overlooked elements of a landscape that take on an animistic, mythic character.

 

Blueprints for Hope is a new work for concert band by Katherine Bergman in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, commissioned and premiered by a consortium of seven ensembles.

 


Spotlight on New Members


Music in the American Wild album coverAmerican Wild Ensemble
 (Springfield, MO)

Founded through a national touring initiative celebrating the National Park Service centennial, American Wild Ensemble encourages audiences to explore their environments through a different lens.

“American Wild Ensemble celebrates the people, places, and stories that shape American history and culture.” Visit American Wild Ensemble’s profile.

 

Portrait of Michael-Thomas Foumai

Michael-Thomas Foumai (Honolulu, HI)

Many of Foumai’s “vibrant and cinematic” works are inspired by his Hawaiʻi home.

“It is vital for me to create and to use music to tell the stories of our time, of what was, is and may come in the ever changing landscape of our blue island earth.” Visit Foumai’s profile.

 

Thumbnail image of Randy GibsonRandy J. Gibson (Philadelphia, PA)

Gibson’s “Tacony Creek Suite” is a monumental reflection of the beauty and travails of an under-appreciated green space in Philadelphia.

“My compositions are all duality in nature.” Visit Gibson’s profile.

 

Portrait of Ayumi Okada on city streetAyumi Okada (New York, NY)

Rich with melodic interest and storytelling, Okada’s music captures her impressions of scenery in New York City and Kyoto, Japan.

“Drawing a landscape with music is one of my biggest inspirations in composing.” Visit Okada’s profile.

 

Jessi HarveyJessi Harvey (Saint Paul, MN)

Harvey’s music, “full of surprises and consistently attention holding,” integrates creation with social and environmental causes.

“My music draws back to my childhood in the mountains of Montana.” Visit Harvey’s profile.

 

Portrait of Takuma Itoh at pianoTakuma Itoh (Honolulu, HI)

Itoh’s “brashly youthful and fresh” works raise awareness of Hawai‘i’s many endangered bird species.

“What I find most meaningful in my work is connecting with people.” Visit Itoh’s profile.

 

View our full list of 32 members (and growing!).

Landscape Music: Rivers & Trails Concert Video on YouTube

New Year, new YouTube channel! We are pleased to announce a new online home for videos of our concerts, interviews, and all things LandscapeMusic.org and Landscape Music Composers Network.

We’re kicking things off with a full-length concert video featuring Citywater, Sacramento’s premier chamber ensemble for new music, as part of Landscape Music: Rivers & Trails: our Fall 2018 concert series, which featured five different chamber ensembles around the country in programs of World Premieres that celebrated the 50th anniversaries of the U.S. Wild & Scenic Rivers and the National Trails System.

Citywater’s Landscape Music: Rivers & Trails program was presented by Visions of the Wild, an environmental arts festival, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Vallejo Community Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service. The concert was given at the Empress Theatre in Vallejo, CA on September 23, 2018.

Watch the full concert below, or visit our playlist to see individual videos of World Premiere pieces by Landscape Music composers Nell Shaw Cohen, Linda Chase, Ryan Suleiman, Ben Cosgrove, Christina Rusnak, Rachel Panitch, and Libby Meyer.

A Conversation with Landscape Music Composers

Nell Shaw Cohen, composer and Director of the Landscape Music Composers Network, was joined earlier this month by fellow Landscape Music composers Justin Ralls, Stephen Wood, and Stephen Lias for a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation about bringing inspirations from nature into music. It was filmed on the occasion of Landscape Music’s National Park Service centennial concert with Cadillac Moon Ensemble at the Parrish Art Museum, and includes a discussion of the works on that program with clips from the performance.