Scott Ordway

PREMIERE

Commissioned by SOLI Chamber Ensemble

Premiere: 2 June, 2019; McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, TX)
SOLI Chamber Ensemble; directed by Scott Ordway; scenic design by Erica Eliot

PRESS

Reviews

“Ordway’s thought-provoking musical essay on migration and the search for safety is certainly timely…soul-stirring music and performances.” (BBC Music)

“The Clearing and the Forest solidifies Ordway's reputation as one of today's most gifted and thoughtful composers. He's that rare thing: an artist who's fully absorbed and steeped within the classical tradition yet cultivated a personal vision that's beholden to no one but himself. He is a serious composer in the best sense of the word: every work is meticulously conceived, impeccably crafted, and built to last.” (Textura)

“An immersive landscape.” (San Antonio Current)

“Complete and meaningful...its premiere by the SOLI Chamber Ensemble solidifies the quartet’s reputation as a national and global leader in modern music.” (San Antonio Express-News)

“Ordway has created in The Clearing and the Forest a musical score of admirable discipline and integrity, and with great heart.” (Classical Voice North America)

Feature Coverage

The Clearing and the Forest Explores Migration Through Music, Movement, Scenery (Texas Public Radio)

Immigrant-Led SOLI Chamber Ensemble Crosses Borders With The Clearing and The Forest (San Antonio Report)

Artist Interview: Composer Scott Ordway and Designer Erica Eliot Discuss Innovative Concert The Clearing and the Forest (San Antonio Current)

MEDIA

NOTE

The Clearing and the Forest is an evening-length, fully-staged work for chamber ensemble that explores the relationship between landscape, migration, and refuge. Each member of the chamber ensemble is also a silent actor in a theatrical work depicting the movement of human beings through the natural environment in search of safety, togetherness, and home.

The world premiere production was directed by Scott Ordway and featured costume and scenic design by Erica Eliot. The production, which was created for the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX, used large-scale installation pieces made of foraged flowers, trees, and fruit to depict migration across climactic zones. The forest is the element which unites these disparate landscapes, always present, but always different: boreal forest, temperate forest, tropical forest.

The story is told abstractly through a series of images. The first act reveals a group of people whose cold, northern home has become an unsuitable place for them to remain. In the second act, they leave this place and wander, both individually and in pairs, in search of another. In the third act, they are together again and perhaps better for having made the journey, but share a memory of the home they have lost. When the work begins, the floor of the performance space—which surrounds and includes the audience—is littered with pine boughs. By the end, the branches have been gradually replaced by hundreds of scattered oranges. Both evergreen and citrus fruit fill the performance space with their subtle fragrance, creating a multi-sensory dramatic experience of movement, searching, and loss.