Sean Shepherd on Writing Music about Climate Change

Composer Sean Shepherd discusses his personal journey to exploring themes of climate change in his music, and how these ideas have influenced his compositions. He describes his recent companion pieces "Melt," which refers to the melting of glaciers due to global warming, and "Sprout," which provides a hopeful perspective on the regrowth of trees in response to the California wildfires.
Learn more about "Melt": bit.ly/MeltInfo
Learn more about "Sprout": bit.ly/SproutInfo
Music:
Express Abstractionism for orchestra
Composed by Sean Shepherd
Performed by Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons
Courtesy of Naxos Records and Boston Symphony Orchestra
Melt for orchestra
Composed by Sean Shepherd
Performed by Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Cristian Măcelaru
Courtesy of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Sprout for orchestra
Composed by Sean Shepherd
Performed by Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Cristian Măcelaru
Courtesy of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Melt photography:
Camille Seaman, photographer, videographer, and curation
Sasha Friedlander, editor
Sprout animation:
David Murakami, animation artist and designer
Samuel Clevenger, animator
Svet Stoyanov, audio mixing
Film interview by Jesse Yang