“ …create a work built on such profound difficulty, loss, and tragedy while the world, as it always does, turns and turns from one day to the next, each moment radiant with the mundane and the miraculous.”
Each Moment Radiant is a new 50-60 minute work scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and baritone voices; piano; immersive video; and field recordings from Lockerbie, Scotland. The work pairs stories of the thirty-five Syracuse University students who perished on Pan Am Flight 103 with stories of similar aged youth who are the victims of state-sponsored violence in places like Myanmar, Ukraine, Sudan, Bosnia, and other hotspots across the globe.
Erickson’s creative team includes librettist/poet Brian Turner and video artist David Murakami - together they will create a compelling meditation on the impact of that fateful day and place it in the context of ongoing acts of senseless violence throughout the world.
The live performance work will be a unique hybrid of the song cycle, oratorio, performance art, and installation piece, with letters and documents from the victims and family members both set to music and projected on screens throughout the performance space. A separate pre-recorded version for video will live as an installation piece in the Syracuse Museum and other spaces TBA.
Score Completion: Spring 2024
Premiere Performances: 2024-2025 Season
Instrumentation: Soprano Voice, Piano, Immersive Video, Sound Collage
Length: 25-30 minutes, consisting of multiple individual songs and instrumental movements
Libretto: Texts drawn from private and public source, telling the stories of those impacted by state sponsored violence; honoring their loss, while also celebrating the resilience and beauty of life
Commissioning Consortium Partners: Performers, Art Organizations, and Academic Institutions across the globe
Lead Commissioner: Syracuse University
LIBRETTO AND PERFORMANCE ELEMENTS
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed in a terrorist attack that shocked the world. Two hundred seventy people died in this unprecedented tragedy, including eleven Lockerbie residents. On board were thirty-five Syracuse University students, returning to the U.S. after a semester abroad.
Loss is personal, and loss is a part of the human condition.
Revisiting a difficult moment can give us the courage to heal those parts of loss and trauma that are unresolved. Loss also teaches us to embrace the radiant moments found in our day-to-day existence.
Terrorism and state sponsored violence are pernicious tools used to inflict pain and terror onto a population.
CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
Committed ensembles thus far include the following: Sibelius Academy (Finland), Stockholm Royal Conservatory of Music (Sweden), Syracuse University, Cincinnati Song Initiative, USC’s Thornton School of Music, LIEDER ALIVE! (San Francisco), Old First Concert Series (SF), and an additional 10-15 organizations in the US and abroad.
For more information or to join the consortium, please contact us.