Contested Eden is the latest addition to the oeuvre of Gabriela Lena Frank. Commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music with support from La Jolla Music Society, the piece is to premiere in several different formats over the summer and speaks to the composer’s ongoing efforts to fight the climate crisis through both her art and her activism.
“Contested Eden, in two movements, was a difficult project for me,” Frank observed. “A few months before the deadline, when asked if I could consider addressing the wildfires of California in my piece for the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, I was caught off guard. Then, I burst into tears and blurted out yes. What followed was a humbling period of apprehension against tackling the subject.”
The composer’s full program note and score are available on our website. The work premieres July 31, 2021, as a dance film, with choreography by Molly Katzman, filmed on location by Swan Dive Media in CZU Lightning Complex Fire sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Contested Eden’s music was remotely recorded by members of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra under the direction of Cristian Măcelaru and edited by Svet Stoyanov. A version for the full Cabrillo Festival Virtual Orchestra will be premiered at a future date. The first movement of Contested Eden may be performed by string quartet alone, and will be performed as such at La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest August 7.
For more information, please contact your local Wise Music Promotion Team. See Contact Us.
