2025 Program Guide | Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

34 CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC 2025 IN THE WORKS PROGRAM NOTES Hydrosphere (2022) Sam Wu (b. 1995) Hydrosphere  is inspired by the water cycle – a macroscopic, planetary process that shapes oceans and continents. Water is the source of life as we know it; its eternal cycle accompanies generations across the aeons. Despite its ubiquity, water is precious; we must protect Gaia’s lifeblood. Gossamer Depths (2023) Leigha Amick (b. 1997) Gossamer Depths  was inspired by the 2006 Hubble Space Telescope image of the Orion Nebula that was created using 520 different Hubble images.  The piece features three primary musical materials: expansive chords representing the whole of the Orion Nebula, accented long notes representing the light from individual stars, and swirling gestures representing the cloud of dust and gas that makes up the nebula. Cages of Jade (2024) Ethan Soledad (b. 1999) Composed for the Shepherd School of Music Symphony Orchestra. San Francisco Bay’s Angel Island acted as an immigration station for mostly Chinese immigrants in the beginning of the 20th century during the Chinese Exclusion Act. Those held at the station would spend weeks, months, and even years on the island before being released or sent back to their origins. Several poems are inscribed on the walls telling of their feelings of anxiety, fear, boredom, and despair in the terrible living conditions and grueling questioning by the immigration officers. The title of the piece, Cages of Jade, comes from one of these poems. I sought to portray the journey of this author from their arrival at the station to their eventual release into the U.S.. The end of the piece features a prominent Proud to support the Cabrillo Festival with the microphones used for recording and broadcast of the 2025 season violin solo which is at first echoed by the rest of the strings before they join in in unison. This represents the author’s “fellow villagers” rejoicing with them and the Asian American community as a whole coming together to thrive in spite of the violence, racism, and other hardships they have faced coming to the U.S. Poem 135, Translated from Toishanese by Genny Lim Detained in this wooden house for several tens of days, It is all because of the Mexican exclusion law which implicates me. It’s a pity heroes have no way of exercising their prowess. I can only await the word so that I can snap Zu’s whip. Fromnow on, I amdeparting far from this building All of my fellow villagers are rejoicing with me. Don’t say that everything within is Western styled. Even if it is built of jade, it has turned into a cage. Orion Nebula