Julia Wolfe: unEarth

US composer Julia Wolfe’s major new work unEarth receives its UK premiere at the Barbican, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, National Youth Voices, and Danish soprano Else Torp.

unEarth is a large-scale oratorio about the climate crisis. Written in three movements, the work is realised with spatial staging and scenic design projected on a large circular screen. It combines ancient stories, languages from around the world, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, climate science and words of protest to create a moving, and urgent plea to engage the listener in the climate emergency. 

Julia Wolfe was awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and was a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. She received the 2015 Herb Alpert Award in Music, and was named Musical America’s 2019 Composer of the Year. She is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can, and artistic director of NYU Steinhardt Music Composition.