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.
"...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."
- BBC Music Magazine
"...a powerful amalgam of poetry, philosophy
and music..."
- Opera Magazine
Crow and Weasel (1993-94) (story by Barry Lopez)
for picc/bs clnt (one player), four percussion,
celesta, harp, and string quintet.
90:00
Commissioned by the Sundance Institute and
the Children's Theater company.
Script published by Samuel French.
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."
- Rutland (VT) Daily Herald
"...A howl of a production...Coyote is
theatrically, musically, visually, psychologically
and spiritually powerful medicine."
