Score and Instructions

Max patch and files

Wood is part of Naegleria Fowleri, a series of multimedia compositions based on the poetry of Rimona Afana. Her text adopts the perspective of an abandoned wooden chair as it recollects a history of humanity’s violence towards nature. To this I conjoined another manufactured wooden object: a cello, whose sound is dis/trans-figured, rendered artificial-beautiful through electronic processing.

At the premiere of the live version in Miami, May 2019, I triggered voiceover fragments of the cellist, Jason Calloway, reading Rimona’s text, and live-processed his performance using a multi-effects signal processor I built with the audio software Max. The following fall, on a beautiful autumn weekend, Jason visited Atlanta. Together with Rimona we recorded audio and video in the studio and in several natural spaces around the city. I used these recordings to create this video version, which was premiered at Emory University during Winter CompFest 2020.

for cello and live electronics, on a text by rimona afana

wood