Program Notes for An Evening with Gabriella Smith & yMusic

An Evening with Gabriella Smith & yMusic
November 8, 2025
McGuire Theater

An Evening with Gabriella Smith and yMusic

Program:

Gabriella Smith & Gabriel Cabezas duo

Gabriella Smith: Aquatic Ecology*
Performed by yMusic
Allison Loggins-Hull, flutes
Mark Dover, clarinets
CJ Camerieri, trumpet
Rob Moose, violin
Nadia Sirota, viola
Gabriel Cabezas, cello

*Midwest premiere; Co-commissioned by Walker, Schubert Club, and Liquid Music

–

Tonight’s performance runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

Please join us before and after the performance in the Walker’s Cityview Bar.

Accessibility Notes

For more information about accessibility, visit our Access page.

For questions on accessibility, content and sensory notes or to request additional accommodations, call 612-253-3556 or email access@walkerart.org.

About Aquatic Ecology

Most people think of the ocean as a silent place, but in reality it is incredibly noisy and vibrant. These underwater ecosystems are alien to most—and yet most of our planet is covered in water. The ocean is our planet’s largest carbon sink, which makes it “the greatest ally against climate change” (according to the United Nations). Its health is vital for a livable future. In order to conserve aquatic ecosystems, it is important to feel a connection to them. One of my goals with this piece is to make the underwater ecosystems feel less foreign and more tangible to listeners, and to provide them with a connection to the ocean in a way they probably haven’t experienced before—through sound. In this piece, field recordings (made with hydrophones) sometimes appear in their raw, unaltered state —particularly when yMusic is not playing—and at other times are processed in musical ways to become part of the ensemble. They appear in this order:

• A coral reef off the island of Huahine, French Polynesia – shrimp crackling, the sound of parrotfish eating algae off coral, grunting (recorded by Gabriella Smith)
• Many species of fish including croakers and herring – grunting and clicking sounds (from many places and sources)
• Ice melting – squeaking, bubbling, sounding kind of like birds (recorded by Francesco Fabris in Iceland)
• Plainfin Midshipmen, humming and growling (recorded by Gabriella Smith on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, and by researchers in the Sisneros Lab at the University of Washington)
• Rain falling onto a creek, Green Island, Oregon (recorded by Gabriella Smith)
• Cetaceans, including dolphins and whales (courtesy of Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

— Gabriella Smith

Learn More

In this Liquid Music interview with Amy Chatelaine, yMusic musicians Gabriel Cabezas and Nadia Sirota offer reflections to take with you into the performance: on Smith’s enchanting ability to alter perceptions of sound, on expanding the voice of their instruments through encounters with aquatic languages, and on the singular experience of making chamber music with a choir of humming fish.

Take Action

Join Gabriella Smith and Minnesota DNR’s Scientific and Natural Areas Program (SNA) for an invasive species removal event on Sunday, November 9, at Wolsfeld Woods Scientific and Natural Area in Long Lake. Spots are limited; sign up for the event here.

Wolsfeld Woods was among the first of Minnesota’s Scientific and Natural Areas. It was acquired to protect one of the best remaining examples of the Big Woods forest community in the state. The site contains old-growth maple-basswood forest.

For more information about future events with SNA, sign up for their email newsletter or visit their event calendar.

About Gabriella Smith

Bay Area native GABRIELLA SMITH is a composer whose work invites listeners to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. An “outright sensation” (LA Times), her music “exudes inventiveness with a welcoming personality, rousing energy and torrents of joy” (NY Times). Lost Coast, a concerto for cello and orchestra, written for her longtime collaborator Gabriel Cabezas, received its world premiere in May 2023 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This work joins her organ concerto, Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie also premiered by the LA Phil, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Other current projects include Keep Going, a large-scale work for Kronos Quartet, commissioned in celebration of their 50th anniversary season, and Aquatic Ecology, an album-length work for yMusic featuring underwater field recordings. In December 2023, her work Tumblebird Contrails was performed on the Nobel Prize Concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Gabriella grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project.

About yMusic

YMUSIC is a genre-leading American chamber ensemble. Now in its 16th season, the group is renowned for its innovative and collaborative spirit. Since their inception, yMusic has had a unique mission: to work on both sides of the classical/popular music divide, without sacrificing rigor, virtuosity, charisma or style. They were recently praised by NPR Music as “deeply, profoundly skilled. They’ve formed a language all their own.”
Named for “Generation Y”, yMusic and their cohort of composer-collaborators, who include Andrew Norman, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Marcos Balter and Caroline Shaw, have come to represent the vanguard of American Contemporary Music. Simultaneously, yMusic has been tapped to lend their orchestral sound and instantly-recognizable style to recordings and concert projects by a dizzying array of popular artists from ANOHNI to John Legend to Paul Simon.

ALISON LOGGINS-HULL, FLUTES
Celebrated as a musical “powerhouse” (The Washington Post), Allison Loggins-Hull is a composer, flutist, and producer whose work defies genre, from symphonic music to film scores, chamber and electronic music. Her signature style of composing for orchestra is characterized by unique sonic effects that echo contemporary music production techniques. Her works are profoundly influenced by Black American music, creating a vibrant and kaleidoscopic sonic palette. Thematically, her compositions are deeply rooted in the experiences of community, culture, and life, offering a rich and evocative musical narrative. Her artistic reflections on Black stories, music, and experience, have led to works aligned with Afrofuturism, a movement that imagines alternate realities and a liberated future viewed through the lens of Black cultures. In her newest appointment, she will serve as Resident Artistic Partner to the New Jersey Symphony, for a term beginning in September 2024. Loggins-Hull co-founded the groundbreaking duo Flutronix, and has performed as an accompanist to major pop acts including Lizzo and Frank Ocean. She has performed on multiple blockbuster film scores and composed the score for Bring Them Back, an award-winning documentary executive produced by Debbie Allen about the legendary dancer Maurice Hines. In 2023, she led an ensemble of flutists at the Met Gala, backing a performance by Lizzo. This season marks Loggins-Hull’s last of three years as the Lewis Composer Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra, an engagement that focuses the narratives and history of Cleveland through the prism of one of the world’s great orchestras, culminating in three world premieres. Loggins-Hull lives in Montclair, NJ with her family. She is represented by Pink Noise Agency, a BIG Arts Group company.

MARK DOVER, CLARINETS
Clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, maintaining firm roots in classical music while ever- expanding into the vast world of improvised music. Since 2016 he has served as the clarinetist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore and Albany Symphonies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Mark was awarded a Grammy as a player and producer for “Best Classical Compendium” for Imani Wind’s latest release, “Passion for Bach and Coltrane.”

CJ CAMERIERI, TRUMPET/HORN
A graduate of The Juilliard School, CJ Camerieri plays trumpet, french horn and keyboards for some of the most important artists of our time. He founded the classical ensemble yMusic, joined Bon Iver—winning two Grammy awards for the band’s sophomore album—and became an integral member of Paul Simon’s touring band in 2014, assuming a pivotal role in the legend’s last two records. To date, he has released two solo albums under the band name CARM.

ROB MOOSE, VIOLIN
Rob Moose is a three-time Grammy Award-winning arranger and string player based in Brooklyn. He’s written and recorded charts for thousands of albums, including work by Bon Iver, Taylor Swift, Paul Simon and Phoebe Bridgers. As an orchestrator, Moose’s work has been performed by the Atlanta, Colorado, Dallas, Indianapolis, and National Symphonies, as well as the Boston Pops.

NADIA SIROTA, VIOLA
Nadia Sirota is a violist, conductor and Peabody Award-winning producer and broadcaster. As a soloist, Nadia has appeared with orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España, and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. To date, she has released four albums of commissioned music. Previously Creative Partner of the New York Philharmonic, Nadia joined the Juilliard faculty in 2023 and serves as the school’s first Creative Associate at Large.

GABRIEL CABEZAS, CELLO
Cellist Gabriel Cabezas is a true 21st century musician. Named one of “23 Composers and Performers to Watch in ’23” by the Washington Post, he is a prolific soloist and collaborator, and co-founded the string group Owls. Gabriel has appeared with America’s finest symphony orchestras and has premiered dozens of new works. In 2016, Gabriel received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence.

Living Land Acknowledgment

The McGuire Theater and Walker Art Center are located on the contemporary, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Dakota people. Situated near Bde Maka Ska and Wíta Tópa Bde, or Lake of the Isles, on what was once an expanse of marshland and meadow, this site holds meaning for Dakota, Ojibwe, and Indigenous people from other Native nations, who still live in the community today. 

We acknowledge the discrimination and violence inflicted on Indigenous peoples in Minnesota and the Americas, including forced removal from ancestral lands, the deliberate destruction of communities and culture, deceptive treaties, war, and genocide. We recognize that, as a museum in the United States, we have a colonial history and are beneficiaries of this land and its resources. We acknowledge the history of Native displacement that allowed for the founding of the Walker. By remembering this dark past, we recognize its continuing harm in the present and resolve to work toward reconciliation, systemic change, and healing in support of Dakota people and the land itself. 

We honor Native people and their relatives, past, present, and future. As a cultural organization, the Walker works toward building relationships with Native communities through artistic and educational programs, curatorial and community partnerships, and the presentation of new work. 

Schubert Club Acknowledgments

About Schubert Club

About Liquid Music

Walker Art Center Acknowledgments

About Walker Art Center

To learn more about upcoming performances, visit 2025/26 Walker Performing Arts Season.