Earth and the Great Weather  (1990-93)
"A Sonic Geography of the Arctic"
for vln, vla, vlc, cb, digital delay, 4 singers (SSAB), 4 percussion, 4 speaking voices and natural sounds.

90:00

Commissioned by the Alaska Festival of Native Arts.

Recorded on New World Records (80459-2).

"...John Luther Adams' powerful Earth and the Great Weather was less a traditional opera, more an environment in which to contemplate the fragile sounds the composer created and the bleak, beautiful landscapes he evoked... Vocal quartet Synergy gave a restrained but potent performance verging on ritual enactment."

"...a powerful amalgam of poetry, philosophy and music..."

Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter, Coyote Builds North America  (1986-90)
for clnts (e-flat and bass), vln, cb, 4 percussion and storyteller.

70:00

Commissioned by Perseverance Theater.

"...timeless wisdom and humor... Coyote is a work that is full of wonder... The capacity audience responded at the end of the evening by standing up and howling back."

"...A howl of a production...Coyote is theatrically, musically, visually, psychologically and spiritually powerful medicine."