New Orleans, LA, USA - Let this submission from Composer, Stephen Montalvo, just wash over you. Don’t forget to check the description so that you can absorb the full lyrical effect of the piece.

Bio provided by the Artist: Stephen Montalvo (b.1984) is an active composer and performer of acoustic and electronic music, as well as an audiovisual installation artist, based in New Orleans, LA. Through his music, he explores concepts related to resonance and rhythmic interplay and draws inspiration from social, ecological, and political concerns. His works have been performed throughout the United States, and internationally at the Osaka University of Arts Electronic Music Festival, by artists and ensembles including the Portland Percussion Group, Rhythm Method String Quartet, Bent Duo, Carlos Cordeiro, Talea Ensemble, Omaha Percussion Ensemble, and numerous scholastic groups. Additional collaborations include audiovisual installation projects for LUNA (Light Up NOLA Arts) Fête, hosted by the New Orleans Arts Council, as well as with the Virtual Krewe of Vaporwave.

Stephen holds a Master of Arts in Music Composition from Tulane University where he studied with Maxwell Dulaney and Rick Snow and a Bachelor of Music from West Texas A&M University, where he studied percussion with Susan Martin Tariq and composition with Joseph Nelson and Robert Denham. Current affiliations include the Society of Composers, the National Association of Composers/USA, and the Vic Firth Education Team as a Scholastic Educator and Marching Percussion Specialist.

Description by the Artist: ‘All the Trees of the Field Clapped Their Hands’ is the second work composed for a planned song cycle that highlights the voices of women and their experiences with sexual assault. All of the works in the cycle are set to poems written by women with the text for this work contributed to the project by Nikki Ummel. The work was premiered by mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen on January 29, 2021.

Find more from Stephen on his website, Instagram, and Twitter!