Musk

Musk (2019)for large ensemble.Commissioned by HMFT, Hamburg.The world premiere performance took place on the 25th of May 2019 as part of the "SYMPHONIE IM ST. PAULI ELBTUNNEL" project coordinated by the Hochschule fur Musik and Theatre (HMFT) Hamburg, Germany and featured in a program alongside works by Alvin Curran, Dong Zhou, Benjamin Won, James Cheung and Shing-Kwei Tzeng.The work is for 144 musicians spread along the Elb Tunnel.cathope.com This piece imagines a comparison
between the Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg,
Germany and the more recent Elon Musk
tunnel experiments in Los Angeles, USA.
As the Elbe tunnel was intended in 1911,
the proposed Musk tunnel system is
designed to send cars underground to
travel in tunnels, but to avoid the 'chaos
above'. Musk's dedicated tunnel making
company, The Boring Company, created
the first tunnel in late 2018, and tested it
with Musk's Telsa electric cars. The
tunnels are oddly both connected to
cinema – the Elbe tunnel was featured in
the 1970s film ‘The Odessa File’ and
Musk’s first tunnel is named 'Godot'. The
piece ruminates on these comparisons,
and begins in the middle of the tunnel,
exploring how sound can travel in
directions different to those for which it
was designed.