Green Light, for concert band
Mary Ellen Childs, composer

Final edit

Green Light

Home - excerpt from NORTH
Mary Ellen Childs
Performed by Pat O'Keefe

NORTH: Home 111222

Aurora - excerpt from NORTH
Mary Ellen Childs, compoiser
Performed by Zeitgeist

NORTH is inspired by the composer's experiences in the Arctic. Departing from the international territory of Svalbard, 10 degrees from the North Pole, Childs lived aboard a Tall Ship, sailing and making landfall daily to experience the terrain and collect recordings and imagery. Childs came away with profound artistic impressions of the spare, often subtle, and occasionally violent sounds of the Arctic, the overwhelming breadth of the landscape and seascapes, and the predominant Arctic hues: shades of white, pink, blue. 

Svalbard, a region so remote it has never supported indigenous people, has few occupants today; a land where nature rules and demands the upper hand. Yet, even in this land where people are not, human impact is evident. Plastic and trash from far away populations is abundant on the shoreline, and receding glaciers and ice floes reflect human-caused climate change. For Childs, this experience underscores the way in which the air we breathe, the water we use, and the earth we tread is shared by all on the planet.

From NORTH: Aurora

Mary Ellen Childs, composer
Performed by Zeitgeist (clarinet/bass clarinet, piano, 2 percussion)

From NORTH: Fallen Pieces Of The Moon

From NORTH: Falling To The Sea

Mary Ellen Childs, composer
Recorded by Zeitgeist
          (Pat O'Keefe, clarinets; Nicola Melville, piano; Patti Cudd and Heather Barringer, percussion)
Recorded at WildSound, Minneapolis, MN. 
          Steve Kaul, engineer
          Pat O'Keefe, producer

From NORTH -  Boreas

From NORTH - Frazil Ice

Falling to the Sea - from NORTH
Mary Ellen Childs, composer

Falling to the Sea (with opening drone)

Composer: Mary Ellen Childs
Excerpts from NORTH
     0:00 Aurora (clarinets, piano, 2 percussion) 
     2:40 Home (multiple clarinets)
     5:55 Falling to the Sea (multi-tracked clarinet/bass cl, piano, percussion)
     9:40 Floe (multi-tracked clarinet/bass cl, piano, percussion)

NORTH is an immersive installation based on Childs time in the Arctic, living aboard a Tall Ship, sailing the fjords and making landfall daily to collect imagery of the stark Arctic landscape. 

The NORTH installation combines recorded music (4.1 surround), 4 channels of projected imagery of northern snowscapes and melting ice, and sculptural elements to create immersive environment in which to consider our northernmost lands and their connection to all of us, wherever we live. 

Installation includes a subtle designed fragrance designed by Childs.

Seventy minutes of music was recorded in 4.1 audio by Zeitgeist ensemble.

The complete 68-minute work runs on a loop during gallery hours and viewers may enter and exit at any time. Fluffy white beanbag chairs and other sculptural seating is provided for comfortably settling in for the full duration.

Note: All of the sounds of NORTH music are produced acoustically by the musicians - i.e. no sounds are electronically produced. 

More information on NORTH: maryellenchilds.com/north

NORTH - excerpts

Mary Ellen Childs, composer
Recorded by ETHEL, 2015.

Ephemeral Geometry - II. Points

Points, from Ephemeral Geometry
Mary Ellen Childs, composer  

Commissioned by and written for ETHEL, string quartet. Ephemeral Geometry is part of ETHEL’s Documerica project, inspired by photographs from the Environment Protection Agency’s Documerica, a series of photographs taken by photographer throughout the U.S. during the 1970s.

mechil

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