Monstrous Gaia

Winner of the 2025 Hugh F. MacColl Prize, granted by Harvard University's Department of Music.

Composed for Filigree Ensemble and inspired by Amitav Ghosh's book "The Nutmeg's Curse", this art song asks: What if climate change is the ecosystem's self-defense mechanism? The climate crisis is framed as a toxic relationship between lovers, apexing in both parties' realization that "I will kill you if you make me." Two treble singers and cello balance in the threshold of fragility and violence, victimhood and selfishness.

Thank you to Kim Leeds and Christina Kay of Filigree Ensemble for commissioning this piece.