Program Notes:

"Ravenous is an imaginative celebration. The piece asks a "what if" question: what if humanity's outsized production of carbon ended, and plant life returned to abandoned lots, malls, high-rises, refineries, factory farms, and more...

That's where my sci-fi scene begins:

The quartet opens in a quiet, abandoned parking lot. A tiny shoot (one violin) calls out, "it's time!" Slowly, plant growth begins: draping veils of moss, twisting vines, trees, wild bushes, flowers, and the roots of all, ravenously taking over, singing the hunger of bright, rejoicing chlorophyll!

The earth breathes again, harkened by the lowest note on the cello.

Ravenous celebrates a time when the seasons could be normal again, if... our carbon consumption ceases. It imagines plants eating the CO2, chomping through it and all the other toxins from human consumption and waste. They fight, through each tendril, to set the balance of the earth right again!

"Join us," they whisper at the end." ~ Akshaya Avril Tucker

This piece was commissioned by the Carpe Diem String Quartet as part of its 15 for 15 commissioning project.