Aileen Sweeney - Views from the M9 - Live recording

If you could hear the genesis of the earth, what would it sound like? Through a biblical lens of creation, "In the beginning…" explores this phenomenon, traversing through darkness and chaos, light and wonder, and the formation of human life. A musical reimagining of the inception of the universe, this piece finds wonder, peace, excitement, and love, reveling in the fascination and mystery of the beautiful world humanity has the pleasure of existing in. 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” Genesis 1:1-3 (NIV).

Composed by Danielle Bees
Performed live by the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Sofia Symphonic Summit
Conducted by Chenzhejun "Jackie" Hu

In the beginning...

Microfauna II is part of a collection of instrumental, fixed media, and open score compositions I have produced for the interdisciplinary Moss Worlds project (University of Manchester) - a research project bringing together artists, botanists, literature scholars, geographers, and poets to explore the affective, botanical, and political aspects of urban mosses in Manchester. Each work attempts a refraction of an aspect of moss ecology, moss imaginaries, or human-moss relations. *** Taking as its starting point the rich variety of microfauna which make their home within and around moss communities, Microfauna II imagines a world of water, zipping and darting, whirling and clumping, zooming in (and out), flagella, cilia, chloroplasts, translucency, nematodes, tardigrades, and rotifers. It was composed using a technique of collaged free improvisations using field recordings, contact-mic’d mosses, acoustic instruments and electronics, processed through a series of semi-autonomous granulators in Max MSP.

Microfauna II

Mosswalking (or 'small acts of attention')

Meditation App Music

No.25 ("An undending breath") - interpreted by Ronan Whittern (Solo Bassoon)

No.17 ("For Orchestra") interpreted for real and virtual strings

No.5 ("An old stone wall...") interpreted for prepared piano and electronics

As One Does

Danielle Bees is a Sofia Symphonic Summit 2023 Composer, an ICEBERG Institute 2022 Composer, an Alba Festival 2021 Composition Fellow, and an ICon Arts Transylvania Academy 2020 Composer in Residence. Her music for the concert hall, film, and theatre has been performed throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. She has worked with notable ensembles such as the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Trio Immersio, The Julius Quartet, Transient Canvas, among others, and collaborated with actors, directors, and writers alike. Danielle holds a Bachelor of Music from the Greatbatch School of Music at Houghton College and a Master of Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

In the beginning...

Danielle Bees

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