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 mind of a tree. 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.”

Connery’s environmental work is inspired by the Native American belief that we must understand the land as kin. Elderflora is dedicated to the urgent message of Chief Oren Lyons: "Time is running out: Our survival depends on immediate action against climate change." Lyons is a Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper of the Wolf Clan of the Onondaga Nation and the Seneca Nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River.

Reviews: Sacramento News, Santa Fe New Mexican and on CapRadio.

West Coast tour Sept 27-Oct 28 2024.

Sept 27 Seattle Symphony/Octave 9 (Seattle, world premiere)

Sept 28 Benefit for The Last 6000 hosted by Cornish College (Seattle, WA)

Oct 1 Reed College Department of Music/Third Angle New Music, Eliot Hall chapel (Portland, OR)

Oct 6 Nature Center + Musica Sierra (Beckwourth, CA)

Oct 10 The Exploratorium (San Francisco)

Oct 11 Rogue Music Project/United Methodist Church (Sacramento)

Oct 16 UNM Art Museum (Albuquerque)

Oct 18 UNM ArtsLab (Albuquerque)

Oct 27 DD Ranch (Santa Fe)

Elderflora tours with an optional video installation involving “Lumberland,” a series of tree portraits by American photographer Noah Kalina. In performance, each image is paired with one movement for a total of 10 images/10 movements.

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.