What’s New? Spring 2016

Inaugural Concerts from the Landscape Music Composers Network

Cadillac Moon Ensemble

Cadillac Moon Ensemble. Photo by Karjaka Studios.

Our upcoming event Landscape Music Presents Cadillac Moon Ensemble at the Parrish Art Museum celebrates the National Park Service’s century of conservation with a concert of new music evoking landscape, ecology, wildlife, and adventure.

This concert, which takes place on September 9 in Water Mill, NY, is an exciting collaboration between the Landscape Music Composers Network, the Parrish Art Museum (the Hamptons’ premier fine art museum), and NYC’s fantastic Cadillac Moon Ensemble. We’ll hear music by five Landscape Music composers—Nell Shaw Cohen, Stephen Lias, Justin Ralls, Alex Shapiro, and Stephen Wood—including World Premieres composed by Cohen and Ralls for this occasion.

Check out the press release, purchase tickets, and watch this space for detailed coverage!

Last month saw the first-ever concert affiliated with Landscape Music Composers Network, New Music of Our National Parks, created by Rachel Panitch and presented by the Advent Library Concert Series in Boston, MA. It was an evening of beautiful performances and we were fortunate to attract an appreciative audience, which included members of the National Park Service. In case you missed it, here’s the press release with an overview of the event and a concert preview with samples of each of the pieces that were featured on the program.


Michael Futreal Joins the Composers Network

Michael FutrealWe recently welcomed a new addition to the Landscape Music Composers Network: Michael Futreal, a composer, improvising performer, instrument builder, and multimedia artist based in Shreveport, LA. Recently an Artist-in-Residence at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Michael creates unique works that “articulate impressions of places as powerful catalysts to imagination and memory.”


Recent Articles on Landscape Music

Intersections: Duets with Nature — The first in Nell Shaw Cohen’s series highlighting large-scale, interdisciplinary, multimedia, and/or collaborative projects at the intersection of music, nature, and environmental advocacy.

Stephen Wood: Wilderness Advocacy Through Music and Education — In this in-depth interview, Stephen Wood shares ideas and experiences behind his concerts and educational programs, elucidating his vision of how music acts as a catalyst for reconnecting us to our environment.

Sketches of Nature: Landscape Music in the Central Asian Steppe — Justin Ralls explores the musical culture of the central Asian steppe and reflects on parallels between the Tuvan approach to “sketches of nature” and western music composition.

Concert Preview: New Music of Our National Parks

Linda Chase performs on the rim, August 2012. Photo by Autumn Chase-Dempsey.

Linda Chase performs on the rim of the Grand Canyon, August 2012. Photo by Autumn Chase-Dempsey.

This Spring, the epic landscapes of Zion, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite will be brought to life in Boston. New Music of Our National Parks is a concert of new chamber music inspired by nature, honoring the national parks in the centennial year of the National Park Service. I’m delighted to be involved with this project, produced by Rachel Panitch in affiliation with the Landscape Music Composers Network.

The concert, which will take place on Friday, April 15, 2016 at 8:00pm on the monthly Advent Library Concert Series at The Church of the Advent in the heart of historic Beacon Hill, Boston (suggested donation is $10), brings together works by three members of the Composers Network—Rachel, Linda Chase, and myself—and features performances by Cardamom Quartet, vocalist Burcu Gulec, flutist Alicia Mielke, guitarist Devin Ulibarri, and the vibraphone/violins trio Thread Ensemble.

I’ve previously posted a brief announcement and a press release about the event. Below, I dig a bit deeper into the works featured on the program and explore how each of the composers drew inspiration from national parks. Continue reading

This April in Boston, Landscape Music Composers Pay Tribute to National Parks

The Watchman, Zion National Park - Flickr - Joe Parks

New Music of Our National Parks
Presented in affiliation with the Landscape Music Composers Network

April 15, 2016, 8:00pm
Advent Library Concert Series
The Church of the Advent
30 Brimmer St (corner of Brimmer and Mount Vernon)
Boston, MA 02108
$10 suggested donation

Rachel Panitch has joined forces with Linda Chase and myself to present the first-ever concert of music by members of the Landscape Music Composers Network!

New Music of Our National Parks will feature new chamber music inspired by National Parks. Several of these works emerged from Rachel’s residency at Zion National Park, which she discussed with me at length in an interview for Landscape Music, as well as Linda’s residency at Grand Canyon. My own piece, Dai-Shizen (Great Nature), is a reflection on the Yosemite-inspired artworks of Chiura Obata and how he carried this inspiration with him to the internment camp where he was imprisoned during World War II.

The program will be performed by Boston-based string quartet, Cardamom Quartet, vibraphone and violins trio Thread Ensemble, vocalist Burcu Gulec, and the flute and guitar duo of Alicia Mielke and Devin Ulibarri, and presented as part of the monthly Advent Library Concert Series in the heart of historic Beacon Hill, Boston.

Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of this event on this website, including explorations of the pieces featured on this exciting program. Read the full press release.