Dear Friends,
 
As the New Year begins, we’re all hoping that brighter days lie ahead for humankind, and for our beautiful beleaguered planet. But of course hope is not enough. Each one of us, in our own way, is working to imagine and to help create a better future.
 
The work in front of me these days is Unnuaq/Night—a large-scale composition for orchestra and chorus. Unnuaq is the dark twin of Sila: The Breath of the World. Where Sila rises, spiraling up through a series of harmonic “clouds," Unnuaq descends, followed by a unison choral setting of "Night" by Alaska’s great poet John Haines. Written in the oracular voice of a Greek sibyl, this prophetic poem speaks powerfully to the political, spiritual and environmental darkness descending on contemporary society.
 
I’m also at work on a new book, Silences So Deep—a memoir of forty years living and working as an activist and an artist in Alaska.
 
My producer Nathaniel Reichman and I are mixing the premiere recordings of Become Desert and Become River, performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ludovic Morlot. Scheduled for release by Cantaloupe Music in mid-2019, these new recordings complete the trilogy that began with Become Ocean.
 
My friends at New York Public Radio’s New Sounds have just posted Places and Moments—a series of nine prose poems, read in nine different voices, mixed with excerpts from my music.
 
Of course, there’s nothing like the experience of hearing music “live.” There are many exciting performances of my music coming up in the next few months, including the European premiere of Become Desert. You can find these listed in the calendar section of my website.
 
Thank you for listening.