Fern

Fern (2026) explores the pastoral and the tempestuous, taking inspiration from naturalist John Muir's writing in The Yosemite: "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." The work sonically captures a fern's unfurling fronds, otherworldly spirals, tender swaying, and proud persistence. With a focus on lyrical writing for the oboe as well as the instrument's virtuosic potential, Fern paints an intricate and vibrant sound world where the performers express the idyllic and the ephemeral. Many thanks to Jeremiah Quarles and the consortium for commissioning Fern and for their support of new music for the oboe.