Whale Fall was commissioned by the University of Utah for the project Artivism for Earth which gathers artists and scientists from different disciplines to collaborate in artistic projects that address issues of climate change. As a result, I musicalized Katharine Coles’s poem Whale Fall. I was attracted to this poem because it addresses the death of marine life, while at the same time making us ask questions about our own end and our solitude. I try to convey the emotional atmosphere that the question brings, using the background of the music to suggest the idea of the vastness of the ocean as a metaphoric image of our unknown end. The piece is written for child’s voice to create awareness that what we are doing to the environment will greatly affect our future generation.

– Xavier Beteta

Whale Fall

by Katharine Coles

Because they live in the dark
Mostly they live in

Their ears, listening, singing
Back. We drop microphones…