A new major work for choir and orchestra, composed by Dwight Bigler
Winner of The American Prize in Composition, 2023
— Professional major choral work division —
Enjoy the newly released video production!
The world premiere was performed on April 3, 2022, on the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre of Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech. Recorded by Arts Laureate | Tonsehen. Presented by the VT School of Performing Arts and Blacksburg Master Chorale.
Two hundred and fifty musicians filled the stage to perform this world premiere. Mosaic for Earth features lyrics by leading environmental authors, visual arts projections designed by Virginia Tech’s David Franusich, and stunning illuminations by Barbara Wolff, Psalm 104: You Renew the Face of the Earth.
Mosaic for Earth celebrates the wonders of nature and explores humanity's impact on the environment and our responsibility towards it. The concert featured special guest soloists Danielle Talamantes (Virginia Tech alumna and Metropolitan Opera soprano), Jami Rhodes (mezzo soprano), Isaac Hurtado (tenor), and Christopher Holmes (baritone).
The libretto includes poetry and writing by leading environmental authors:
Terry Tempest Williams, The Hour of Land, When Women Were Birds
Erik Reece, Lost Mountain
N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain
W.S. Merwin, For a Coming Extinction
Jim Wayne Miller, Small Farms Disappearing in Tennessee
Wilfred Owen, Miners
Stewart Udall, Go Well
Albert LeBeau
Adaptations of Psalm 104 (Bigler)
Orchestration:
SATB Choir (opt. children’s choir in Nos. 12–14)
SATB Soloists
Winds: 3.2.2.2
Brass: 4.3.3.1
Strings, harp, piano, marimba, percussion (3), timpani
approx. 75 minutes long
Manuscript of No.4 Among the Branches They Sing
Mosaic for Earth:
No. 1 Bless This World
No. 2 The Mountains Rose
No. 3 There Was a Whispering In My Hearth
No. 4 Among the Branches They Sing
No. 5 We Continue to Evolve
No. 6 The Moon Waxes and Wanes
No. 7 Once In His Life
No. 8 So This is the Great and Wide Sea
No. 9 For a Coming Extinction
No. 10 You Renew the Face of the Earth
No. 11 The Irony of Our Existence
No. 12 I Will Sing to Life
No. 13 Go Well
No. 14 When Women Were Birds
Composer Dwight Bigler shares background on Mosaic for Earth.
Island Park, Idaho
When I was young, my parents would regularly pack my eight siblings and me into our maroon station wagon, count off to make sure we didn’t accidentally leave anyone behind, and head to the Idaho mountains for a weekend of camping, exploring, swimming, and fishing.
Like my father, I always looked forward to the first breath of fresh, pine-infused mountain air as we drove up the steep highway into the elevations where the tall, majestic lodgepole pines thrive. We would roll down the car windows, breathe deeply, and feel the invigorating Idaho mountain air rush into our lungs, bringing new life to our souls.
This is where I learned to love nature.
View of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the top of Dragon Tooth Trail (part of the Appalachian Trail), near Catawba, Virginia
When I moved to Virginia in 2009, I fell in love with the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, which led me to a better understanding of the Appalachian Mountains and the environmental challenges facing them. The Appalachians are the second oldest mountain range in the world, with some of the greatest biodiversity and natural resources on the continent. More than 100 species of trees are found in the Great Smoky Mountains – more than the entirety of Europe contains.
I learned how we have been extracting these resources at a frighteningly fast and ruthless rate and at great cost to the biodiversity and the health of surrounding areas. Once lost, the wildly diverse life and intricate ecosystems that took 300 million years to develop cannot be fully reclaimed. Once it is extinct, extracted, or consumed, it is gone.
I felt an increasing desire to help find solutions to these highly complex problems.
Waves crashing at Virginia Beach, Virginia
Creating Mosaic for Earth has been a labor of love inspired by the beauty of nature, our impact on the environment, and the resulting effects on ourselves and the earth, our home. Terry Tempest Williams often speaks of the importance of community and conversation. Mosaic for Earth is my contribution to both: it brings people together to hear words of wisdom presented with the power of music and visual arts.
I hope it inspires wonder and illumination regarding our place in this world and our responsibility towards it. May we move closer to the proverbial Garden of Eden rather than further into the increasingly chaotic and extreme climate of our own making.
May we come to a greater understanding of our influence on this planet, remember our duty as moral beings, and be better neighbors to all life on Earth.
The world premiere of Mosaic for Earth is dedicated to Mary Denson Moore, my friend and colleague who introduced me to the literature and art that inspired Mosaic for Earth. Without her knowledge and passion for nature, history, people, literature, conversation, art, and social and environmental justice, Mosaic for Earth would not be.
My deepest thanks also to Dr. Annie Pearce, whose friendship and support, collaborative creativity, expert knowledge about sustainability resources, and community networks have already significantly extended the vision and impact of this project.
Mosaic for Earth is dedicated to my loving parents, the vibrant and joyful Blacksburg Master Chorale and Children’s Chorale, the inspiring and talented students in the Virginia Tech Choirs and Philharmonic Orchestra, and my family. Thank you.
A mosaic is something beautiful made of many broken pieces.
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Let’s work together to create something beautiful out of the climate challenges we face. To help us accomplish this, Dr. Annie Pearce (Virginia Tech Myers-Lawson School of Construction) has assembled a remarkable collection of resources on this site to provide easy access to help you learn how to make a difference. Use the top menu options to explore and learn more!
The concert experience was enhanced by multiple educational outreach events which were free and open to the public. Click below to learn more.
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Fostering Sustainable Change | March 21, 2022, 7:00–8:30 p.m., Blacksburg United Methodist Church
This session features local citizens who have made a sustainable difference in the New River Valley. You’ll hear from entrepreneurs, citizens in elected or appointed positions in local government, environmental activists, volunteers and organizers of non-profits, and other grass-roots change-makers from our community.
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Lost Mountain: A Reading by Erik Reece | April 4, 2022, 4:00 p.m., 380 Shanks Hall, Virginia Tech
A powerful voice for the Appalachian Mountains, Erik Reece’s Lost Mountain documents the dismantling of Lost Mountain through the mining practice known as mountaintop removal. Excerpts from Lost Mountain are featured as lyrics in Dwight Bigler's new composition, Mosaic for Earth.
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Personal Sustainability Planning | April 16, 2022, 1:00–3:00 p.m., online workshop
What are the most impactful and sustainable choices you can make personally? In this two-hour workshop, you’ll use a variety of tools to identify what parts of your life have the greatest impact on sustainability, and what you can do to make significant and sustainable improvements. You’ll leave with a set of personal sustainability goals, discrete action items for both short- and long-term change, and a plan to follow up and measure how well you’ve done.
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Myths of Sustainability
Did you know only #1 and #2 plastics can be recycled in the New River Valley? Or that you can actually recycle your entire pizza box – even with grease on it? At this event, we learned that the most impactful action we could collectively take to reduce climate change would be to reduce food waste. Some of the things we think are good environmental practices can actually make the problem worse.
Plan your performance of Mosaic for Earth.
Performing Mosaic for Earth is an effective and creative way to engage your communities in learning and motivational activities to help address the challenges of climate change.
To purchase piano/vocal scores, conductor scores, and orchestra parts, click the button below.
Additional materials are available:
Rehearsal planning guides for choir and orchestra
Orchestration list, by movement
Practice tracks for choir
Visual arts projections by David Franusich
“Go well, do well, my children!
Support all endeavors that promise a better life
for the inhabitants of our planet.
Cherish sunsets, wild creations, and wild places.
Have a love affair with the wonder and beauty of the Earth!”
— Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior (1961–1969), in a letter to his grandchildren, 2009
Many Thanks to our Sponsors
Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, College of Science,
Department of English, Moss Arts Center, Office of Research and Innovation,
Office of the Provost, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, and Pamplin College of Business.