Naturalis Digitalis
November 22, 2025, 7:30pm, Little Mission Studio
Elise Arancio, Rookery
Valerie Coleman, Amazonia
Bobby Ge, You Have Entered the Public Domain
Lois V. Vierk, Io
Nina Young, Sun Propeller
Our program contemplates the intersection of nature, technology, and humanity: humankind’s impact on the planet, the inspiration of nature in both electronic and acoustic music, and our changing relationship to technology in the digital era.
Nina Young’s Sun Propeller is electronic music for the human body, taking inspiration from both the Tuvan word for crepuscular rays as well as Tuvan throat-singing style, which itself is a human mimicry of nature’s sounds. Solo violin and electronics come together to become both body and environment.
Valerie Coleman’s Amazonia is a commemoration poem of the Amazon rainforest, which is often referred to as the “lungs of the earth.” The poem describes its natural beauty that progressively becomes destroyed as the dark aspects of human nature intrude upon vitality.
The presence of electronics in Lois V. Vierk’s Io is more subtle, featuring only simple amplification. The work is titled after Jupiter's innermost moon, which in the 1970s was discovered to have the only known volcanoes outside of earth.
Elise Arancio’s Rookery explores the contentious relationship between what is real and what is artificial, asking important questions about how we distinguish between human and machine creations and the role of artificially generated material in the mode era.
Bobby’s Ge’s You Have Entered the Public Domain—the winning composition of the 2025 Suzanne & Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award—is a joyous celebration of the public domain. Bobby writes: “No art exists in a vacuum. Everything owes its existence to something earlier, and this cycle forms the backbone of creativity. The public domain - the body of work free from copyright restriction - is one of the most important fixtures of today’s creative landscape, providing a rich library of source material for artists of any medium.”
Valerie Coleman, Amazonia
Bobby Ge, You Have Entered the Public Domain
Lois V. Vierk, Io
Nina Young, Sun Propeller
Our program contemplates the intersection of nature, technology, and humanity: humankind’s impact on the planet, the inspiration of nature in both electronic and acoustic music, and our changing relationship to technology in the digital era.
Nina Young’s Sun Propeller is electronic music for the human body, taking inspiration from both the Tuvan word for crepuscular rays as well as Tuvan throat-singing style, which itself is a human mimicry of nature’s sounds. Solo violin and electronics come together to become both body and environment.
Valerie Coleman’s Amazonia is a commemoration poem of the Amazon rainforest, which is often referred to as the “lungs of the earth.” The poem describes its natural beauty that progressively becomes destroyed as the dark aspects of human nature intrude upon vitality.
The presence of electronics in Lois V. Vierk’s Io is more subtle, featuring only simple amplification. The work is titled after Jupiter's innermost moon, which in the 1970s was discovered to have the only known volcanoes outside of earth.
Elise Arancio’s Rookery explores the contentious relationship between what is real and what is artificial, asking important questions about how we distinguish between human and machine creations and the role of artificially generated material in the mode era.
Bobby’s Ge’s You Have Entered the Public Domain—the winning composition of the 2025 Suzanne & Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award—is a joyous celebration of the public domain. Bobby writes: “No art exists in a vacuum. Everything owes its existence to something earlier, and this cycle forms the backbone of creativity. The public domain - the body of work free from copyright restriction - is one of the most important fixtures of today’s creative landscape, providing a rich library of source material for artists of any medium.”