Jordan Alexander Key (b. 1990): "Meditation after the Death of Stephen Hawking," trio for soprano, flute, double bass, and fixed media on digital excerpts from Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Malala Yousafzai, Jane Goodall, and Wangari Maathai.

Thank you, Stephen Hawking, for being an inspiration throughout my life, showing me the value of lifelong learning, impassioned teaching, unabashed imagination, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Written for the Fonema Consort

Premier: March 29, 2019, The University of Florida, Friends of Music Room
Performance: The Fonema Consort

music by Jordan Alexander Key:
https://www.jordanalexanderkey.com/

for a score/performance video animation with subtitles see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQSqwP5R-A

for a complete score see:
https://www.academia.edu/38897013/Meditation_after_the_Death_of_Stephen_Hawking_Trio_for_Soprano_Flute_Double_Bass_and_Fixed_Media

Meditation After The Death Of Stephen Hawking - Trio for Soprano, Flute, Double Bass and Fixed Media

Nebal is a scholar, poet, and composer whose works focus on the profundity of pitch, semiotics, and esotericism to create artworks that transcend the physical and foster cosmic connection towards the realization of radical unity.
 
Their most innovative work creates a process that engrains western style counterpoint in Arabic Music whilst maintaining the latter’s distinct microtonality. Synchronizing both principles of counterpoint through negotiating elements of Spectralism, Pythagorean tuning & philosophy, western concepts of harmony and eastern concepts of Sayr (tr. Flow). This work has led to new possibilities in Sufi numerological ritual, and further opportunities for experimentalism in both occidental and oriental musics.
 
Beyond their research into Islamic esoteric philosophy and its manifestations within the field of Arabic music, the composer is also equally if not more adept at conventional Western music as well. Nebal has written in a wide variety of genres ranging between tonal, minimalist, abstract, graphic, and electronic within the realm of Western music as well, and ultimately finds their home at the intersection of these distinct styles. Their 3rd Piano Sonata, Bedtime Stories for the Inner Child showcases the composer’s passion for long-form music, dexterity of style, and rigid control of form. Similarly, al-Wahdat al-Wujud showcases the composer’s creativity in the realm of graphic notation, electronic manipulation, and religious exploration outside the context of Islam. 
 
The composer’s current projects include Kitab al-Tabaqat (tr. The Book of Layers), a treatise on counterpoint in Arabic music that takes inspiration from Rameau’s Treatise on Harmony, Fux’s Gradus Ad Parnassum along with al-Farabi’s Kitab al-Musika Kebir (tr. The Great Book of Music) and the philosophies of various Sufi schools and scholars including Ibn Arabi and al-Bumi. Out of principle, the composer does not share any pronouns, images of themself, nor educational background as to insist that the music and music only be concerned when engaging with the composer in a professional capacity.