The Rowan University Wind Ensemble shares the stage with Hub New Music for a thrilling performance of Gala Flagello’s “The Bird-While” (a concerto for solo flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and symphonic winds). The piece is titled after and based on Keith Taylor’s poem “Acolytes in the Bird-While,” which explores the flora and fauna of Michigan and the struggle to persist in the face of climate change. Flagello writes: “I aimed to write a concerto for an unconventional group of instruments that demonstrates their virtuosity while providing a platform for awareness of and education around environmental and climate justice. Each movement derives its title from Taylor’s poem, drawing attention to pivotal lines in the poem’s narrative.”
ACOLYTES OF THE BIRD-WHILE
by Keith Taylor
We have lingered in that space
granted by a woodpecker
before it disappears on the far side
of a dying elm. We have held
our collective breath as a warbler—
redstart, prothonotary, or golden-winged—
brushes across our shoulders. We have prayed
to avian gods we don’t believe in
that piping plovers may avoid
windows, cats and windmills,
will survive habitat loss,
climate change, and oil spills,
to allow us that one
immeasurable moment at sunset
when we count their glowing bills
among our fragile, vanishing gifts.
Hub New Music artists and composer Gala Flagello will be in residence with the Rowan University Department of Music April 16-18, 2024. Also on the April 18 Wind Ensemble concert program: Canzona by Peter Mennin, Children’s March by Percy Grainger, Blue Shades by Frank Ticheli, and La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed.