TJ Cole - Phenomenal of the Earth (excerpt 1) by Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps

World premiere by the Louisville Orchestra (TJ Cole, synthesizer) on March 4, 2023.

When I found out I was accepted into the Creator Corps program, one of my first thoughts was, “I hope they’ll let me write a synthesizer concerto about the Earth and perform the synthesizer part, even though I’ve never soloed with an orchestra and I don’t know a lot about nature.” Thankfully, Teddy and the LO team welcomed my idea without hesitation.

Not having much time to compose the piece, I found myself turning to nature whenever and wherever I could for inspiration. The most vibrant memories I have were playing in my yard with my cat under a big tree, watching brightly colored sunsets while driving down I-65, visiting Seneca Park with Tyler Taylor and hitting stones against each other to see how they sounded, harvesting kale in my yard, walking past the autumn red trees in Shelby Park during a rainstorm, and watching a flock of birds flying in a V formation over Logan Street Market. I found so much beauty and joy in collecting inspiration in Louisville, and I believe that the spirit of these little moments made their way into the piece.

One of the most formative parts of my writing process was being able to stay at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. My time at Bernheim consisted of a few dreamy days of hiking interspersed with fervent writing. Instead of feeding off of my mostly urban surroundings, I was able to exist and create in an environment that immediately felt gradual, spiritual, balanced, cleansing, and focused. During a rehearsal, Lisa Bielawa leaned over and said to me, “This piece isn’t working in musical time. It’s working in nature time.”

I want to extend a ginormous thank you to Jenny Zeller and Hannah Coleman-Zaitzeff of the Bernheim Forest for setting up my stay, Teddy Abrams and Jacob Gotlib for their support, the entire LO team for their dedication, and Lisa and Tyler for their incredible friendship.