Ecosystem (2021)

Winner of the One Found Sound 2021 Emerging Composer Award!

This piece is a manifestation of the multi-faceted landscape of natural wildlife in the world. From segments with harmonics imitating birdsongs and swarming pizzicato impersonating teeming fish in a pond, to entire sections of snap pizzicato emulating the sounds of small creatures in grass and lower harmonies representing majestic larger animals, this string quartet illustrates a portrait of the biosphere as a whole.

I wrote Ecosystem in the middle of a cold, dead winter during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown while I was stuck alone inside my small, cramped college dorm room. The one thing I missed the most was simply going outside and seeing the nature, animals, and even other people on campus, so I wrote this piece in order to emulate and recall the expansive environment outside which I had so easily taken for granted. I was inspired by the music of nature documentaries like National Geographic, as well as the layered textural sounds of ambient music.

*This piece is written as a string quartet but may be performed as a larger ensemble with multiple instrumentalists on each part.