Performance Feature: Sila by John Luther Adams

Hello musical friends! I just came across this fascinating piece of music and I was so into it that I wanted to share a little bit about it with you!

Sila, “the Breath of the World” is an experiential piece of music specifically for outdoor performance commissioned by Lincoln Center. The piece premiered in Lincoln Center on July 25th, 2014 in and all over Hearst Plaza, including inside the pool! Sila is an Inuit word that roughly means the spirit of the Earth, or “the breath of the world.” Adams himself is an environmentalist, so many of his pieces take the stance of appreciation of nature.

The composer states that Sila is a site determined piece: performers must find the music of the piece within the never ending music of the place they are performing in. The piece also features five separate scores: for the five choirs of strings, brass, woodwind, percussion, and voice. These scores are modular and can be performed alone or together, from 16 performers up to 80. Each performer is considered a soloist, and are able to perform as slowly as they want. The audience is also invited to move around and experience the music from different angles.

One thing that really stood out to me was that the vocalists use cool megaphone shaped cones to direct their sound in many directions. Check out the video above to see a little snippet of the NYC premiere!

While the COVID-19 pandemic has cancelled many musical performances this year, Sila is actually going to be performed this weekend! The Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings are performing the piece at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival on August 29th with percussion and brass choirs. Break a leg this weekend, musicians!