Coastal Futures Festival
The Coastal Futures Festival is an environmental arts festival created by UVA’s Coastal Conservatory, a collaboration between artists, humanities scholars, and scientists with the Virginia Coastal Reserve, a long-term ecological research site supported by the National Science Foundation. Through various forms of listening, the Conservatory integrates arts and humanities into the scientific investigation of coastal change in order to deepen understanding and stimulate imaginations.
Liminal: Coastal Science in Sacred Music
A Concert & Symposium by The Coastal Conservatory at Yale University
Date & Time:
Friday, February 21, 2025 | 7:30 PM
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Location:
Sudler Recital Hall, Harkness Hall (100 Wall Street, New Haven, CT)
About the Event:
Liminal: Coastal Science in Sacred Music is a unique concert and symposium featuring the Coastal Conservatory in collaboration with EcoSono Ensemble and special guests from Yale University. This interdisciplinary event integrates eco-acoustic performance with discussions on science, ethics, and sacred music, creating immersive ways of understanding coastal change.
Through live musical performances and scholarly reflections, participants will explore themes such as sea level rise, oyster reef restoration, shorebird extinction, and seagrass meadows. EcoSono Ensemble will perform compositions using sonified data from the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-term Ecological Research site, accompanied by insights from leading scholars in music, environmental sciences, and religious studies.
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The event schedule includes Soundscapes of Restoration, featuring Coastal Soundscape—a composition and narration by Matthew Burtner with a research introduction by Karen McGlathery and theoretical insights by Willis Jenkins. Dreams of Seagrasses includes a performance by EcoSono Ensemble and Yale student musicians, a seagrass restoration briefing by Karen McGlathery, and a multispecies ethics inquiry by Willis Jenkins. Oyster Communion is a performance by EcoSono Ensemble and Yale student musicians featuring an ecoacoustic composition by Matthew Burtner.
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Counterpoint | Dialogue features discussions by Os Schmitz (Ecology) and Mary Evelyn Tucker (Religion & Ecology).
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Inhuman Composition includes Crab Flutes, performed by EcoSono Ensemble with an introduction by M. Burtner and a discussion on barrier island mudflats by Karen McGlathery. Vaporous Clouds Condense / The Metered Tide features compositions by M. Burtner and C. Chafe, with sea-level rise projections by Karen McGlathery and reflections by Willis Jenkins. On the Strangest Sea includes a composition by K. Hauge, a performance by EcoSono Ensemble and Keeley Brooks (Yale), and discussions on marsh retreat and sparrow conservation by Karen McGlathery, with reflections by Willis Jenkins.
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Admission is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by The Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative. For more information, visit Liminal: Coastal Science in Sacred Music
Coastal Futures Festival 2025
The 2025 festival is planned for Fall, with details to be announced.