If Trees Could Talk

Sheila Silver & John Feldman interviewed by Victoria Browers & Martha Guth

Tibetan Singing Bowls

Tibetan Singing Bowls

Duration: 42 minutes

About:
Interview: Sheila Silver, composer and John Feldman, filmmaker – ‘If Trees Could Talk’ 

SongFest has been a proud recipient of grants from the Sorel Organization since 2010. These grants have allowed us to commission new works, most often by women composers, to be premiered during our festival each summer.  Here, Martha Guth and Victoria Browers talk with Sheila and John about their collaboration for the SongFest Sorel commission to be premiered at SongFest in 2021.

If Trees Could Talk is an exploration of trees and our relationship to them – how we as humans both abuse and revere them — and how they give us, and all life on the planet, what we need to live.  Inspired by Richard Powers’ recent and powerful Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Overstory, this 12 minute theater piece is based on an idea by Silver in collaboration with hornist and author Ann Ellsworth.  It is scored for 3 sopranos and 1 mezzo, piano, and 4 Tibetan singing bowls, and will include video projection by filmmaker John Feldman whose much acclaimed film, Symbiotic Earth  and current film-in-progress, Regenerating Life, explore the ecology of the planet and how to solve the climate crisis. 

Resources:

  • Take a look at our list of SongFest commissions spanning the past 25 years with links to view performances of many of these premieres. For our 20th anniversary, with the help of the Sorel Organization, we released a recording featuring SongFest alumni performing many of the commissions from years past. We would like to give a big THANK YOU to the Sorel Organization for helping to make many of them possible.

  • The two books that Ms. Silver references in her session:

About the Presenters

Sheila Silver, composer SongFest 2020 Sorel Composer

Sheila Silver, composer
SongFest 2020 Sorel Composer

John Feldman, filmmaker & wildlife photographer

John Feldman, filmmaker & wildlife photographer

The Sorel Organization & SongFest

Many of the Sorel commissioned composers throughout the years. Click HERE to view the list of SongFest commissions, many of which were funded by the Sorel Organization.

Many of the Sorel commissioned composers throughout the years. Click HERE to view the list of SongFest commissions, many of which were funded by the Sorel Organization.

 
SongFest Director Rosemary Ritter, Sorel Organization board members Walter Kilmer and Judy Cope, composer Anne LeBaron, & baritone Matthew Morris

SongFest Director Rosemary Ritter, Sorel Organization board members Walter Kilmer and Judy Cope, composer Anne LeBaron, & baritone Matthew Morris