Among the Trees: Sonic Ecology in the Anthropocene
SMO flutist Sarah Pyle curates an evening of environmental music in which the audience and musicians collectively explore how we are shaped by and shape the natural world. Meadows (2025), a growable graphic score led by Flicker Duo (Sarah Pyle, flute & Janna Webbon, violin), encourages at-home ecosystem restoration, while Caroline Miller’s territories::refrains invites human participation in recreating ephemeral signals from the animal world. Miller’s world-premiere commission for SMO explores our rapidly-changing environment due to urban tree canopy loss and the resulting man-made effects of urban heat islands. Hilda Paredes’ Chaczidzib for solo piccolo probes themes of displacement and colonialism as sung by the Mayan red-chested bird. To close, George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae hearkens back to a time of nature without humans and celebrates our region’s Orca Recovery Day. An event for dreamers and doers alike, we invite you to come, listen, and “stay awhile.”
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PROGRAM:
SARAH PYLE: Meadows – World Premiere
CAROLINE LOUISE MILLER: SMO Commission – World Premiere
CAROLINE LOUISE MILLER: territories::refrains (2020)
HILDA PAREDES: Chaczidzib (1992)
GEORGE CRUMB: Vox Balanae (1971)
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
-Mary Oliver, “When I Am Among the Trees”
SMO is partnering with Pierce County Conservation District for events surrounding our region’s Orca Recovery Day.
Volunteer at any of several locations across the region to help restore salmon habitat, crucial for the health of our local Southern Resident pod, and you will receive a code for FREE admission to this concert. Help to plant trees and remove invasive species at any point between 9am–noon, then come out that night for music that engages and challenges your senses. Get more information and sign up here.