Carnegie Hall: Pauline Oliveros at 90

Annea Lockwood (b. 1939), recently described by The New York Times as “a composer of insatiable curiosity and a singular ear for the music of the natural world,” brings a robust program of recent works from the last two decades to Harvard. The program includes Becoming Air (2018), a visceral solo work that plumbs the depths of trumpet sound through volatile textures and fragile resonances, at times fading to near inaudibility. Jitterbug (2007) transports listeners to the lakes and backwaters of Montana, where musicians interpret rock photographs as graphic scores, evoking a kind of sonic geology. Buoyant (2013) and Into the Vanishing Point (2019) are two alluringly lush works: the first draws audiences into the world of Lockwood’s visionary field recordings, while the second unfolds a unique soundscape of rubbed piano strings, gently handled objects, and chiming pitches that conjure a plethora of natural images––insects and frogs, wind through trees, and the wings of birds in flight.

Curated by flutist and professor Claire Chase, the evening draws upon Lockwood’s intensively collaborative compositional process by bringing together an array of performers—many of whom commissioned, premiered, and championed these works—including the trumpeter Nathan Wooley, pianist Vicki Ray, percussionist Wesley Sumpter, and the ensemble Yarn/Wire.

On the occasion of the Fromm Music Foundation concert highlighting the last two decades of her groundbreaking work, the visionary composer Annea Lockwood sits down with writer, photographer, and art historian Teju Cole. Through conversation, they will explore the remarkable collaborative dimensions of Lockwood’s compositional process, with special attention to the works featured on the November 6 performance––Becoming Air (2018), Jitterbug (2007), Buoyant (2013), and Into the Vanishing Point (2019)––and invite the audience into the dialogue. The talk will open with a performance of Lockwood’s bayou borne (2016) by the Harvard New Music Ensemble.

The iconic American composer Terry Riley (b. 1935) began The Holy Liftoff (2022-2025)* as an open-score sketchbook of brilliantly colored drawings for multiple flutes, commissioned by Claire Chase for her multi-year Density 2036 project. Through a realization by Samuel Clay Birmaher, these sketches have since evolved into a multidimensional work blending through-composed material, graphic notation, evocative artwork, and Riley’s signature open-form scoring. Heard now as an eight-voice chorus of flutes (seven pre-recorded and one live, played by Chase), The Holy Liftoffis joined on the program by Riley’s Pulsing Lifters (2022) and Pulsefield 3 (2025), both expanding the modular, improvisatory spirit of the larger project: Pulsing Lifters reimagined for keyboards by Alex Peh, and Pulsefield 3 with its vivid drawings culminating in a return to song—“the oldest and most urgent mode of music-making,” as Chase notes. For this performance, she is joined by Parker Quartet, pianist Alex Peh, saxophonist Neil Leonard, and special guests from the Berklee Interdisciplinary Arts Institute, the Harvard New Music Ensemble, and Students in Contemporary Chamber Music.