PROGRAM NOTES

Fireline seeks to draw attention to global climate change by evoking wildfires whose prevalence and ferocity it has worsened around the world.

Fireline contrasts angular fragments and dissonant chords with sweeping melodies. Sharp, accented stabs shatter fleeting moments of delicate, harmonic beauty as short, energetic motives propel Fireline at an aggressive tempo from beginning to end.

Just as leaping flames of wildfires alert us to the urgency of the climate crisis, Fireline presents listeners with this environmental warning light in hopes of sparking action to address this threat.

Fireline was composed with gratitude for UCelli, the Columbus Cello Quartet—Pei-An Chao, Mary Davis, Cora Kuyvenhoven, and Wendy Morton—commissioned and funded by the Johnstone Fund for New Music of Columbus, Ohio.

5 minutes | Cello Quartet | 2023

Commissioned: UCelli: the Columbus Cello Quartet & the Johnstone Fund for New Music