Featured Projects

The End of Rain

Critically-acclaimed multimedia symphony commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, featuring Roomful of Teeth. Drawing on crowdsourced text from 250 Californians, The End of Rain addresses the impact of wildfire and drought on life in contemporary California. The 50-minute symphony is accompanied by documentary video and still photography by Scott Ordway.

“Haunting and beautiful.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“Composer Scott Ordway is a 21st-century auteur.” (Good Times Santa Cruz)
“Haunting…heartbreaking…a majestic three-part symphony.” (Lookout Santa Cruz)
”The Grievers of Climate Change” (Noema Magazine)
“Cabrillo Festival returns with collection of works that touch on social, political issues.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“The Cabrillo Festival’s 60th Anniversary Season With Composers Gabriela Lena Frank And Scott Ordway” (KSQD Radio Santa Cruz)
“Santa Cruz composer reflects on California’s new climate normal in The End of Rain.” (Lookout Santa Cruz)
“Songs of the Earth.” (Symphony Magazine)
“Cabrillo Festival Of Contemporary Music Celebrates 60th Anniversary” (Broadway World)
“Music project seeks your stories and reactions to California’s high wildfire risk.” (The Sacramento Bee)

The Outer Edge of Youth

An inquisitive, dreamlike choral opera commissioned and recorded by The Thirteen (Washington, DC). Based on Ordway’s original libretto, The Outer Edge of Youth explores the relationship between childhood, landscape, aesthetics, and belief.

“Exquisite in every way.” (Gramophone)
“Exquisite depth of feeling…a poignant mediation on the loss of innocence.” (OperaNews)
“A contemplative and thought-provoking new choral opera.” (OperaWire)
“An expression of great power, imagination, and originality.” (Textura)
“A hypnotic, haunting fable…the music shimmers, soars…creating an ecstatic catharsis.”(Washington Classical Review)

The Clearing and the Forest

A staged theater work for chamber ensemble, The Clearing and the Forest uses botanical sculptures, lighting design, costumes, and movement to explore the relationship between landscape, migration, and home. Commissioned and recorded by SOLI Chamber Ensemble (San Antonio, TX).

“A thought-provoking musical essay on migration and the search for safety…soul-stirring music.” (BBC Music)
“The Clearing and the Forest solidifies Ordway's reputation as one of today's most gifted and thoughtful composers.” (Textura)
“An immersive landscape.” (San Antonio Current)
“Complete and meaningful.” (San Antonio Express-News)
“Ordway offers a realistic conclusion: hope and gratitude mingled with solemnity and sorrow.” (A Closer Listen)
“The Clearing and the Forest Explores Migration Through Music, Movement, Scenery” (Texas Public Radio)
“Immigrant-Led SOLI Chamber Ensemble Crosses Borders With The Clearing and The Forest” (San Antonio Report)
“Artist Interview: Composer Scott Ordway and Designer Erica Eliot” (San Antonio Current)

Nineteen Movements for Unaccompanied Cello

A 50-minute meditative journey for solo cello, commissioned and recorded by Arlen Hlusko.

“Hypnotic…an air of considered quietude” (BBC Music)
“Absorbing originality…the sound of Hlusko’s cello…speaks directly in a meditative flow…” (Gramophone)
“This music is not to be ignored.” (American Record Guide)
“Mesmerizing beauty.” (New York Music Daily)
“A fascinating program-length collection that explores the vast expressive capabilities of the cello.” (Interlude HK)
“An architectural triumph.” (Broad Street Review)
“Minimalism breaking new ground.” (Stage and Cinema)
“Nothing short of sublime.” (Take Effect)

Tonight We Tell the Secrets of the World

A crowd-interactive “whisper play” for string ensemble, soprano voice, alto saxophone, lighting design, and hundreds of whispered voices.

“A marvel.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
”Hauntingly beautiful soundscapes.” (Global Philadelphia)
“The work resonated with humanist spirituality, haunting the imagination long after the last echo died away.” (The Broad Street Review)
“Acoustics in Penn Rotunda Reveal Secrets of the World” (NPR / NewsWorks Tonight)