THE STORY BEHIND: Smith's "Tumblebird Contrails"

On November 11, conductor Morihiko Nakahara and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra will present DEBUSSY'S LA MER with violinist Randall Goosby.

Title: Tumblebird Contrails
Composer: Gabriella Smith (1991- )
Last time performed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic: This is a RI Philharmonic Orchestra premiere. This piece is scored for three flutes, three oboes, three clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings.

The Story: Gabriella Smith was born in Berkeley, California and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. She began to study the violin at age seven and soon after started to compose her first pieces. Growing up, Smith also developed a deep interest in wildlife, ecology, and outdoor activities, such as hiking, camping, and studying nature. Interestingly, she was able to combine her two interests as a five-year volunteer in a research project focusing on wild songbirds.
       
As a young composer, Smith was mentored by John Adams in his Young Composers Program. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia) and continued with graduate studies at Princeton University. She matured during sojourns in Marseille (France), Oslo (Norway), and Seattle (Washington, USA).
       
Tumblebird Contrails was commissioned by the Pacific Harmony Foundation. The one-movement work was premiered in 2014 by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop. In 2019, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by John Adams, performed the piece as part of its centennial season.
         
Gabriella Smith has written the following description of this work:

Tumblebird Contrails is inspired by a single moment I experienced while backpacking in Point Reyes [National Seashore, California], sitting in the sand at the edge of the ocean, listening to the hallucinatory sounds of the Pacific (the keening gulls, pounding surf, rush of approaching waves, sizzle of sand and sea foam in receding tides), the constant ebb and flow of pitch to pitchless, tune to texture, grooving to free-flowing, watching a pair of ravens playing in the wind, rolling, swooping, diving, soaring — imagining the ecstasy of wind in the wings — jet trails painting never-ending streaks across the sky. The title, Tumblebird Contrails, is a [Jack] Kerouac-inspired nonsense phrase I invented to evoke the sound and feeling of the piece.



Program Notes by Dr. Michael Fink © 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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