The Emigrants

For Percussion, Viola and Cello
For New Morse Code

The Emigrants focuses on the lives of expatriates living in the United States. This new work is currently being developed in collaboration with the New Haven-based ensemble New Morse Code, a percussion-viola-cello trio. The members of New Morse Code have all spent a significant part of their education abroad, and wanted to create a work that investigates the lives of expatriates in a foreign land.

The members of the trio and I are in the process of interviewing various individuals, investigating how their experiences in the U.S. have come to shape their identity, their relationship with their homeland, and why they have chosen to stay. The goal is to create a work that is intimately connected with the people and the place, informed by an investigative process, and allowing music to create a dialogue between the audience and the immigrants’ stories.

Take a listen at some of the oral history recordings that will become a part of The Emigrants: