ELDERFLORA

the trees are speaking

Elderflora is the story of the life of a tree. Told from the perspective of the tree itself, Elderflora (“old trees”) takes us on a musical journey inside the tree’s mind. From birth by fire to death by lightning, we follow this ancient being’s thoughts and feelings in hyperreal detail. 

The music of Majel Connery collides a familiar classical past with the dynamic power and range of modern technology. In performance, Connery pairs her own voice and electronic vocal stylings with the rich, earthy tones of cello (played by Felix Fan). “If trees have a voice,” says Connery, “they’re not going to sound like us. They’re going to sound utterly out of this world.”

Elderflora toured the West Coast Sept 27-Oct 28 2024 including shows at Seattle Symphony, Oct9, Cornish College for the Arts (with The Last 6000), Reed College/Third Angle, the Nature Center in Beckwourth, CA, The Exploratorium, Rogue Music Project, UNM Art Museum and DD Ranch. The Elderflora 2025 tour includes immersive multimedia installation featuring the images of Noah Kalina and video manipulations by Stewart Copeland.

About the composer:

Majel Connery is a composer, performer, podcaster and musicologist. Her music has been called “superb” by the New York Times and “thoroughly Schubertian” by the Wall Street Journal. Connery has appeared on Radiolab, Kennedy Center Live, and New Sounds radio.

The Rivers are our Brothers, Connery’s song cycle on ecological responsibility, was commissioned by Musica Sierra and toured in 2023-24 with Grammy-winning choir Chanticleer, which recently released its own album of the work. Connery debuted Elderflora at Seattle Symphony/Octave 9 in fall 2024, and toured to Reed College, The Exploratorium and UNM Art Museum.

Connery is the host and producer of A Music of Their Own, an interview podcast on NPR about women in the music industry and Reverberations for New Amsterdam Records. She appears frequently as a solo artist, and with NYC-based art-rock band, Sky Creature.