Premiered in April 2024, this major new work is from the creative team of MacArthur award-winning composer Matthew Aucoin, whose commissioning credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, and director Peter Sellars, celebrated for his operatic collaborations with John Adams, Tyshawn Sorey, and the late Kaija Saariaho. Inspired by the writings of visionary poet Jorie Graham and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson, Aucoin and Sellars’s new work offers an immersion in vast planetary processes.

They explain: “We follow the migration of eels to the depths of the Atlantic Basin; we hear the voice of the ocean floor itself, speaking with superhuman pressure and force; we experience humankind’s impact on our planet, and we also sense the presence of cycles so immense that they are beyond human influence.” 

A co-commission of the DaCamera ensemble, Shepherd School of Music, LA Opera, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), and Aspen Music Festival & School, Music for New Bodies is scored for five vocal soloists and an 18-piece instrumental ensemble.