Foxfire

Program Note

Foxfire is a piece about the stillness of night, and about places that seem to bridge the gap to another world. There are many such places in the hills where I grew up. In Foxfire, I imagine a strange glow coming over the shadowed forest, temporarily making the unseen visible, before subsiding as the light of dawn softly arrives.

Composer Biography

Clem Pearson (they/them) is a composer, conductor, and fiddle player from the Appalachian foothills of Kentucky. Their music is informed by contemporary, classical, and folk traditions, and they often favor dreamlike atmospheres and moods of contemplation and introspection. In their work, they seek a contemporary music that can live outside the concert hall, in popular music venues, black box theatres, city parks, and other more accessible art spaces.

They believe that music and the arts are fundamental to a healthy community, and that the work of an artist is to create space for emotion, communication, and human connection. They are influenced by composers Caroline Shaw and Olivier Messiaen, artist/author Tillie Walden, filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, and folk bands including Nickel Creek and the Chieftains. They are currently pursuing graduate study in composition at the University of North Carolina—Greensboro, and they hold a B.A. in composition from Denison University (Ohio) and an M.M. in orchestral conducting from Wichita State University (Kansas).