Luftwerk (Petra Bachmaier & Sean Gallero)
Requiem: A White Wanderer is an evening-length presentation of new music for a full orchestra and choir. The musical score is developed in collaboration with composer Katherine Young. Inspired by Larsen-C, a 120-mile long crack that was along the Antarctic ice shelf and broke into a trillion-ton iceberg in 2017, White Wanderer translates seismic data from an ailing iceberg into an emotional experience, connecting the public to the urgency of climate change. The source data is based on the seismic recordings made by Douglas MacAyeal, a glaciologist at the University of Chicago. MacAyeal has recorded seismic data over a multi-year time period, observing the movement of iceberg B15. Seismic data is a low frequency sonic signal, inaudible to the human ear, but can be perceived and felt throughout the ocean system, traveling through trenches and the SOFAR channel from the Antarctic to Haiti and beyond.