Rising Tides

Reflections on Climate Change

 

Photo: Jay Fleming

 

As the most pressing issue facing humanity, Climate Change is something that many musicians and artists are grappling with in their work. Through a number of programs, the Tesla Quartet is devoted to promoting these voices as we come to terms with the current devastation and try to envision our future. Rising Tides is both a reaction to climate change and a meditation on the rich wonders of our planet that we are striving to protect and preserve. 

Program Description

Subtitled “The Bird,” Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G major, Op. 33 No. 3 evokes the cheerful chirping of birds with its plethora of trills and melodic ornamentations. It serves as a reminder of the beauty of nature and the peril of species and habitat loss due to deforestation and changing ecosystems.

Drops and Ripples, a brief quartet by Tatar composer Adeliia Faizullina, which the Tesla Quartet commissioned in 2020, comprises a series of episodes whose musical material precipitates from a single pizzicato, like the first drops of water in a mountain stream that are destined for the ocean.

Inspired by the exhibit of Liza Ryan’s photography of Antarctica, Tom Morris composed Sea Change as an expression of his anxiety surrounding sea level rise. Juxtaposing calm stillness and aggressive urgency, the music evokes both the power and the delicacy of water.

Caroline Shaw’s The Evergreen is a reflective work that considers the enormous age and beauty of nature as embodied in a scraggly, moss-covered forest pine. The music offers a meditation on the complexity and interconnectedness of beings of the natural world.

“Speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues” — Dr. Seuss, The Lorax. This sentiment is at the heart of Jeffrey Nytch’s For the Trees, an interdisciplinary production using music, sound design, lighting, visual imagery, spoken word, and educational resources to raise awareness and inspire action around the issue of deforestation and the destructive ways it contributes to climate change.

Details

The Tesla Quartet is pleased to offer their Rising Tides program in three configurations to meet the needs of presenters and their audiences:

  • A 60-minute performance with no intermission
    Adeliia Faizullina – Drops and Ripples
    Tom Morrison – Sea Change
    Caroline Shaw – The Evergreen
    Jeffrey Nytch – For the Trees 

  • A full traditional concert length with intermission
    Joseph Haydn – String Quartet Op. 33 No. 3 “The Birds”
    Caroline Shaw – The Evergreen
    -Interimssion-
    Jeffrey Nytch – For the Trees 

  • A stand-alone performance of the complete multimedia version of For the Trees. The music can be followed by a Q&A, and the presenter is encouraged to invite local environmental professionals to help facilitate a discussion about how your audience can take action to fight climate change in your community. (Complete details of the For the Trees immersive multimedia version can be found here.)

  • Alternatively, a multi-day residency could be designed that would incorporate performances of all of the works across two or three concerts.