The Conservation Concertos are a set of works for solo instrument and orchestra being written over the next decade, each about a different nearly-extinct flora or fauna, or environmental concern.

Each concerto is about a subject close to its soloist’s heart…

The Conservation Concertos include works…

with Anthony McGill for clarinet + orchestra
about the Nautilus

with Tammy Miller for piano + orchestra
about Nearly-Extinct Flowers

with Masumi Rostad for viola + orchestra
about Pernambuco/Brazilwood

with Tommy Mesa for cello + orchestra
about Plastics

with Tommy Mesa for cello + orchestra
about Plastics

NAUTILUS

clarinet concerto

The first of the Conservation Concertos, pieces which match the solo instrument with a nearly-extinct flora or fauna to augment our awareness to our symbiosis with earth and our fellow inhabitants on the food chain all the way on down,

NAUTILUS centers upon one of our oldest yet still extant ancestors.

Prized for its dazzling shell with its intricate chambers whose mathematical proportions show the visual elegance of fractals, the Nautilus has been on earth for hundreds of millions of years…

and now we are only a few years away from losing this incredible creature….

The NAUTILUS clarinet concerto maps the different ways we exist together on this earth, in our present, past, and future, painted in long melodies and deep ocean hues.

THE PEOPLE

ANTHONY

MCGILL

STEPHANIE

ANN BOYD

Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (New York Times), clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic international solo and chamber music career and is principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic — the first African-American principal player in the organization's history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical music’s most significant awards, and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a GRAMMY® for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.

McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams. As a chamber musician, McGill is a collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo Quartets, and performs with leading artists including Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang. He serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is the Artistic Director for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Michigan-born, Manhattan-based American composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (b. 1990) writes melodic music about women’s memoirs and the natural world for symphonic and chamber ensembles. Her work has been performed in nearly all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries. Boyd’s five ballets include works choreographed by New York City Ballet principal dancers Lauren Lovette and Ashley Bouder and include a ballet commissioned for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport.  Stephanie’s music has been praised as “a racing, brassy score” (New York Times), “attractive lyricism” (Gramophone), “[with] ethereal dissonances” (Boston Globe), “[music that] didn’t let itself be eclipsed” (Texas Classical Review), and “arrestingly poetic” (BMOP).

Recent commissions and premieres include a work inspired by Betty Friedan entitled Everywoman, with Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and 2022 Indianapolis Competition winner Sirena Huang as soloists and commissioned by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra with George Stelluto;  Julia Louisa Esther: a Suffragette Symphony commissioned by the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra with Christopher Dragon, the premiere of which was the subject of a documentary on Wyoming PBS in 2022; Alleluia Olora commissioned by Astral Artists for cellist Tommy Mesa; Aurora, commissioned by the Kurganov-Finehouse Duo, and others.

EARS: The Music

length

24 minutes

instrumentation

  • 2(1pic).2.2(opt.bcl).2(opt. cbsn) -  4.2.2.1 - t.4p - opt. cel - str (min. 66441)

  • String Orchestra (min. 66441) + opt. 1p

three movements

I. Shell

II. Generations as
Fractals through Time

III. SUMMON

MINDS: THE STORY

I. SHELL

Like the nautilus, this movement is in the shape of a spiral, with themes coming back in new and larger ways each time like the themes and people within our lives. Grand and luscious, this movement is a fantasia in dark ocean hues.

II. Generations as fractals
through time

Inspired by Anthony’s daughter, this movement is a lullaby.

III. summon

Fast and ferocious, this movement is a rhythmics, and uses actual objects from the ocean—like the haunting, primordial cry of the queen conch shell—to create a vibrant festival of sonic color.

EYES:  The VISUALS

COVER ART

Stephanie will be working with her long-term collaborator Sasha Parfenova, a visual artist who created the artwork above, to create a new collage artwork for this piece to be used as the score cover art, project graphic, and however commissioning orchestras would like for their own promotional purposes. 

AT THE CONCERT

PHOTO WALL
Orchestras will be able to use this artwork to make a “Photo Booth” wall/photo backdrop for their lobbies to enhance social media presence and audience engagement.

ONLINE

There will be an interactive lookbook on this website, accessible via a QR code in the program notes, that goes deeper into the grander story of the nautilus and the process of turning this  story into music so that concert-goers can have an introduction to the Nautilus from a different angle after, during, or even before the concert. 

See Stephanie’s  Flower Catalog Lookbook.

HEARTS:  The COMMUNITY–ING

the clarinet world + THE next generation of clarinetists

To bring this project directly to the wider clarinet community, Anthony and Stephanie are working together to create a version of Nautilus for clarinet and piano that young clarinetists, clarinet studios, and professional clarinetists can be “mini-commissioners” of, and be part of the follow-along creation process on social media:

THE audience online

Through instagram reels + tiktoks, Stephanie and Anthony will be bringing the online audience along for the ride of the creation of Nautilus, speaking about the behind-the-scenes of working on the piece together, and Anthony’s detailed advice on how crucial moments of the piece should be practiced (geared towards mini-commissioners as a follow-along component of this project).

cross-pollination

Anthony and Stephanie are excited to participate in pre-concert talks and panel discussions with local members of the scientific community. We hope that this will result in fascinating conversation and context-creator for audience members.