Performed by Felix Fan as part of the 2021 soundSCAPE festival.

Hyphae are extremely fine filaments of fungus, often only a single cell thick, that collectively form complex networks called mycelium. Mycelium is a vital part of ecosystems and forms especially close relationships with plants. One of the most basic and important functions of mycelium is the decomposition of plant material, which creates nutritious soil necessary for future growth. But mycelium do so much more than recycle organic material. Subterranean mycelium forms symbiotic associations with plants called mycorrhiza. Arbuscular mycorrhiza penetrates the roots of a plant and greatly increases its efficiency in water and nutrient absorption. The relationships get even more complicated than that. Mycorrhizae operate as a primary immune response to the presence of microbial soil-borne pathogens, in other words protecting plant life from disease. Even more interesting is how mycorrhizal fungi network information from plant to plant within an ecosystem. The way mycorrhizal fungi network information is not unlike that of an animal's nervous system. For example, when a plant is attacked by aphids it releases chemicals that attract the insect's predators. When this chemical is released a signal is carried to neighbouring plants through a network of mycelium, and they start producing the same compound. Our understanding of this relationship is becoming increasingly more complex and points to dynamic interchanges of information between plants and fungi, across a network that is an ecosystem.
If we zoom back into the hypha, with an understanding of its role in mycorrhizae, this simple filament of fungus can be viewed as a symbol for healthy ecosystems. In 2019 and again in 2020 mass forest fires broke out across the Amazon, due to, in part, clear-cutting and increased volatility due to climate change. 2020 was a record-breaking wildfire season across the western United States. And on Vancouver Island, while I am writing this piece, land protectors, including the elders from the Pacheedaht and surrounding First Nations, have come to a head with the RCMP and logging companies, for blockading the clear-cutting of old-growth forests. In this time of horrific catastrophe, I write this piece as a song for hypha, a symbol of hope for the health of Earth's ecosystems, and for humanity to find ways to live in symbiotic association with the life around us.

Hypha for solo cello

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness


How many contradictions can one hold before one becomes paralyzed by doubt? How much contradictory knowledge can exist with-in a community before it tears itself apart? Could there be such a thing as a universal human condition? What if two beings’ total experience is so structurally different that functionally they live in totally different worlds? Can empathy exist between such beings?


Alloys are cast for their synergistic properties; two or more things made stronger or more useful. Through radical empathy and solidarity we might become alloy… or perhaps it is time we are thrown back into the forge. I am doubtful, and this is fine… maybe…

Composed for the 2019 Neif Norf summer music festival

Constance Li, violin
Gramm Drennen, cello
Mitch Dion, percussion
Makana Madeiros, percussion
Jixue Yang, piano

Supplanted Doubt... let's become alloy...

Piano four hands and electronics. Live recording from the premiere in 2021 at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Performed by and composed in collaboration with Justin Paul Ortez and Megan Thibeault.

Evocation, Intimacy

For piano. Live recording from the premiere in 2021 at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Performed by and composed in collaboration with Justin Paul Ortez.

Wounded Landscapes

For Piano. Live recording from the premiere in 2021 at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Performed by and composed in collaboration with Megan Thibeault.

Societies Of Solitude, 3. Occlusion

For piano. Live recording from the premiere in 2021 at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Performed by and composed in collaboration with Megan Thibeault.

Societies Of Solitude, 4. The Terrifying Comfort

Societies Of Solitude, 6. O, To Be Alone Again

Jelly Ear live from Louisville: O Virtus Sapientiae – Hidegard von Bingen

Jelly Ear live in Louisville: Johannes Hasprois – Because I’m Smokey

What Follows

bari sax : Chelsea Shanoff
performed at: The Apollo Cinema in Kitchener, Ontario as part of the Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions (for more info visit wrcms.org)

phenomenon; exaltation

Seirra Phosy: Flute
Mike Borkovic, Gavin Goodwin: Saxophones
Justin Greene, David Klasse, Isaac Pyatt: Percussion

Spacialized piece composed for the Waterloo Region Contemporary music Sessions (wrcms.org)

how, the epistemological was precipice

is serenity, anxiety, music

Recorded by Paul Talbott at Arrayspace for the 2018 Toronto Creative Music Lab.

Players: Sarah Favinger, Justin Paul Ortez, Joan Jordi Oliver Arcos, Jeffrey Leung, Gavin Goodwin and Teiya Kasahara

is serenity, anxiety, music

bio, cv, videos, and further listening at harperlatkovich.com

Cory Harper-Latkovich

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