From Scorched Earth
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In From Scorched Earth Katerina Gimon brings to life the words of poet Saphren Ma written in response to the devastating wildfires and floods experienced in their home province of British Columbia in 2017. The setting takes us on a powerful musical and emotional journey reckoning feelings of grief and hopefulness in the aftermath of a climate tragedy and serves as a reminder of how we can learn from and find hope in the resilience of nature. Just as new growth emerges from fire-scorched soil, we too can rise anew from tragedy and create our own new beginnings, making the change we wish to see and moving toward a place of healing and hope. This piece is a great fit for many programs, including those on themes of nature, climate change, grief, anxiety, resilience, and renewal.
From Scorched Earth was commissioned by the National Concerts and premiered on March 25, 2024 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, USA, by the National Concerts Chorus conducted by Dr. Giselle Wyers. |
Duration
4'15"
Year of composition
2023
Voicing(s)/ensemble
SATB, divisi with piano
Licensing
Contact Hinshaw Music.
Purchase/view score
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Note from the composer
"From Scorched Earth is a setting of Vancouver poet Saphren Ma's Wildfire, a powerful poem written in response to the devastating wildfires and floods experienced in British Columbia in 2017. The poem and music explore reckoning with feelings of grief and hopefulness in the aftermath of climate tragedy as well as serve as a reminder of how we can learn from and find hope in the resilience of nature. Just as new growth emerges from fire-scorched soil, we too can create our own new beginnings — making change and moving toward a place of healing and hope." — K.G.
Note from the poet
Wildfire was written in response to the catastrophic 2017 British Columbia wildfires that displaced people and animals all across the province. Saphren has a personal connection to the fires, as her grandparents’ family home is located in the middle of the southern cariboo forest. With each year that passes, the effect of climate change becomes greater, and so too does the risk to their home and the ecosystems that surround it. Her work also explores the way in which the resulting fires and floods relate to grief and longing: a longing to be loved, to be known, for loved ones who have passed on to return, and for those in power to wake up to the catastrophic effects of climate change. Despite the heaviness of these elements, she hopes to convey a sense of resilience and regeneration, both in nature and in self. Wildfire is dedicated to her late grandfather, Eric Schneider, who first sparked her love of poetry and a good meander. — S.M.
Saphren Ma is a multidisciplinary artist and birth doula living and working on the traditional unceded territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), and Səl̓ ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She holds a visual arts degree from the University of British Columbia, where she spent time studying poetry under the tutelage of Giller Prize winner Ian Williams and published poet Sheryda Warrener. Her work explores her relationship with grief and loss, mental illness, concepts of decomposition, regeneration, and cyclical patterns of death and growth, the old and the new. She can often be found cooking a new recipe, trying out a new craft, and taking care of her forest of houseplants.