A new work for orchestra looks for our innermost self

Daniel Gilliam interviews Chelsea Komschlies for Louisville Public Radio

Photo credit: Kyle Benjamin Turner

Nearing the end of its third season, the Louisville Orchestra's unique Creators Corps program continues to be a training ground and creative outlet for composers who are looking for those rare opportunities to work full-time with a symphony. For current corps composer Chelsea Komschlies, working with the endless color and sound possibilities of the orchestra was a dream come true.

Her new piece ENTER[ic] PORTAL, premiering this weekend, is a deeply personal work for the composer: it includes clips of her own voice reading her poetry. These sounds are manipulated and processed (something Komschlies worked on collaboratively with Creators Corps alum TJ Cole), sometimes using AI to create different kinds of voices. Her work also features an original video element.

Komschlies describes the whole experience as a journey through the intelligence and emotions of the gut to an "unresolved peace."

Listen to LPR interview here.