Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (2022). Photo by R.R. Jones.
INTERVIEWS
Composing During the Climate Crisis with Scott Ordway
Climate Change and Happiness Podcast (Helsinki, Finland)
January 2023
In the first episode of the new year, Thomas and Panu spoke with composer and multimedia artist Scott Ordway, whose recent works such as The End of Rain, The Clearing in the Forest and The Outer Edge of Youth explore themes of nature, identity and the effects of global climate change. Scott described the process of creating The End of Rain, an ambitious 2022 orchestral work that wove documentary, music, imagery and landscape investigations to tell the story of the aftermath of a catastrophic wildfire that swept through Scott’s childhood home in the redwood forests of Northern California.
Webinar: “The End of Rain: Art, Emotion, and Land”
Sempervirens Fund (San Mateo, CA)
July 2022
Scott Ordway discusses his new symphonic work, The End of Rain, commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and featuring Roomful of Teeth. The text is based on more than 200 crowdsourced stories of wildfire and drought in California, accompanied by documentary photography by the composer.
Multimedia Interview: “The End of Rain”
Sempervirens Fund (San Mateo, CA)
June 2022
As temperatures soar, droughts become more frequent, and fire seasons lengthen, does it change how we see the land? Can these experiences help us bring balance to our relationship with nature before it's too late? Scott Ordway, an award-winning composer, multimedia artist, and Assistant Professor of Composition at Rutgers University, was moved to explore those questions when he heard of the devastation the CZU fire had wrought upon the idyllic forests, meadows, and beaches of his childhood in the Santa Cruz mountains.
We asked Ordway how growing up in the Santa Cruz mountains forged his connection with nature and shapes his art. Through words, sounds, and images he reflects on his changing relationship with land through drought and fire and the hope that experiences like these through art can help strengthen connections with nature–the basis for action.
Colorado Springs Philharmonic Concerts to Feature Award-Winning Composer, Pianist”
Colorado Springs Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO)
January 2022
Composer Scott Ordway was traveling in Istanbul when he heard the call to prayer for the first time in a Muslim country. The sounds came every few hours, reverberating from far-off to nearby mosques, and eventually immersing him in sound.
“I experienced it as a sonic phenomenon,” said Ordway from his home in Philadelphia. “I found it moving and beautiful, and started to imagine what that might look like in other contexts, both being surrounded in sound from every possible direction, but also being surrounded by sound that results in some human activity.”
Contemporary Classics: Interview with Arlen Hlusko & Scott Ordway
WRUU (Savannah, Georgia)
December 2021
Composer Scott Ordway and cellist Arlen Hlusko have created the wonderful recently released album Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello…
Composer Scott Ordway and Cellist Arlen Hlusko: The Evolution of a Vibrant Solo Piece
Interlude Hong Kong
July 2021
Recently a new solo cello work entitled Nineteen (Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello) and the close collaboration between two outstanding young artists, composer Scott Ordway, and cellist Arlen Hlusko, captured my imagination. Scott is currently the Assistant Professor of Composition at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Rutgers University, and he’s very much in demand for his compositions…
Scott Ordway and Arlen Hlusko Explore the Vast Capabilities of the Cello: Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello Part II
Interlude Hong Kong
July 2021
Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello is a fascinating program-length collection that explore the vast expressive capabilities of the cello, while at the same time forming a powerful and cohesive narrative arc…
‘The Clearing And The Forest’ Explores Migration Through Music, Movement, Scenery
Texas Public Radio
May 2019
A new stage production takes a look at humans’ natural instinct to move, specifically, the way people migrate across borders as immigrants and refugees.
Composer Scott Ordway blended chamber music with scenic design and created The Clearing and the Forest. Ordway is known for producing mixed-media projects with interdisciplinary inspirations. His latest project was co-created with Erica Eliot, Scenic Designer and Installation Artist, and Ertan Torgul, Artistic and Managing Director and violinist with the SOLI Chamber Ensemble.
The show is meant to engage your eyes, ears and emotions as a story of migration unfolds in a fully immersive experience. The members of SOLI Chamber Ensemble provide the soundtrack for the journey and also serve as the actors in the three-act production. The show was commissioned by the San Antonio-based SOLI Chamber Ensemble, and has its world premiere on June 2, at the McNay Art Museum.
Artist Interview: Composer Scott Ordway and Designer Erica Eliot Discuss Innovative Concert The Clearing and the Forest
San Antonio Current
May 2019
For each new season, San Antonio's SOLI Chamber Ensemble tries to up the ante, and the group's latest project is no exception. The ensemble commissioned "boundary-defying" composer Scott Ordway to create a special, site-specific piece, The Clearing and the Forest, a project that soon took on a life of its own, requiring Ordway to call in an assist from designer and longtime friend Erica Eliot. Ahead of this weekend’s premiere, the Currentconnected with Ordway and Eliot over email to discuss the process of creating and executing this unique new work.
Artist Profile: Scott Ordway
Interlude Hong Kong
April 2015
Scott Ordway would be what you would call an all-rounded musician. As a composer, a conductor, and a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music, Ordway is constantly in touch with different aspects of music, from studying and conducting standard repertoire, to teaching harmony and counterpoint, and all his experiences help shape the way he writes music today. Ordway will be joining the Intimacy of Creativity this April, bringing let there be not darkness, but light to the table at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.