What the Trees Know

What the Trees Know, Gala Flagello (2023) 8'30" for oboe, cello, and marimba What the Trees Know (2023) was inspired by Richard Powers' The Overstory, the novel I was reading while in-residence at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in December 2022, during which time my colleagues and I visited the California Redwoods on which the book centers. I began to triangulate the ancient trees I read about at night, their real-life incarnations I saw during the day, and their arborous cousinsmaple, spruce, rosewood, and grenadillacomprising the instruments for which I was writing. What the Trees Know seeks to capture not only the visceral woodiness of this entire experience but also the coinciding lessons I learned from the novel, the Redwoods, and my GLFCAM mentors. The piece musically explores collaboration (as trees work together to find sunlight), community (as dead trees support a host of wildlife), communication (as fungal networks talk to one another), and care (as dying Douglas-firs return their nutrients to the soil).