NATIONAL PARKS PROJECT 2014

Concerts of remarkable music, performed in the lands that inspired it.

Two years in planning, we commissioned composers to create music based on southwest National Parks that we then performed within the parks. Armando Bayolo’s Wide Open Spaces delivers a beautiful tribute to the seemingly endless landscapes of the west. David Biedenbender’s Red Vesper asks the ensemble to hike into the backcountry and record the sounds of each park, and then to perform alongside those sounds. Ashley Stanley’s Night Sketches sets the vast night skies of the parks to a haunting and beautiful soundtrack. Dan Rhode’s Fingerpainting, based on the brilliant colors of southwest rock formations, invites audience members to perform with the ensemble on iPads. Finally, Thad Anderson’s work Within, for tuned metals and electronics, brings the listener inside the sound and the beautiful landscape surrounding them. In addition, music influenced by the natural environment, composed by Zoe Keating, Marc Mellits, Jad Abumrad, Paul Rudy, Mason Bates, and Bill Ryan, were also be performed.

The ensemble presented this program over ten days and 4,500 miles in spring 2014. Performed at both indoor and outdoor venues, they performed thirteen concerts at five southwest national parks—Arches National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Great Sand Dunes National Park. For their final stop on tour, they joined forces with Stephen Scott’s acclaimed Bowed Piano Ensemble for a unique and unforgettable musical event at Colorado College. All concerts were free and open to the public, and for ALL ages.