The Holy Liftoff (2024) is the 11th installation of Claire Chase's 24-year Density 2036 project, an initiative to create a bold new repertory for the flute by the 100th anniversary of Edgard Varèse's seminal 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5. Density 2036 has been called "one of the great musical undertakings of our time" by The New York Times, and "a quarter-century journey that has little precedent" by The New Yorker. Terry Riley began composing The Holy Liftoff in 2022 as an open score sketchbook brimming with colorful drawings that were intended to be played by Chase with any number of collaborating musicians. Over the following two years, the sketches evolved into a multidimensional work that now combines extensive through-composed material as well as graphic notation, evocative artwork, and Riley's signature open-form scoring that can be freely interpreted by the performers in variable durations and ensemble formations. Samuel Clay Birmaher's 60-minute realization of the work, which he composed in close collaboration with Riley and the performers, is scored for multiple flutes and string quartet. "When I improvised the first 16 bars of 'The Holy Liftoff' the melody and the chords whispered it's name while simultaneously urging me to make drawings of the experience. The drawings had angels and flying creatures and all the energies were rising up into a surrealistic skyscape... This piece could only have been written for Claire Chase." -Terry Riley

String Works As a teenager, I studied violin privately for about a year. Despite my best efforts, I never truly learned to play-couldn't even manage a simple melody. Yet the raw, untamed sounds of the violin-the fleeting, wild noises it could produce-captivated me. Even now, though I still can't play a tune, I remain enchanted by it's voice: the subtle, mournful cries and the bright, shimmering whispers. String instruments have long been my silent idols, their voices resonating with a deep, almost mystical beauty. Since I began composing, I've been drawn again and again to their warmth, vibrancy, and the intensity of their impassioned screams. Over the years, I've written many works for strings-each one an attempt to enter, and perhaps never fully master, their enigmatic world. String Works gathers pieces I've written for strings across the past decade. Creating them has been my joy, my privilege, and my constant fascination: an unfolding journey into a soundworld as elusive, strange, and beautiful as the strings themselves.