Reflections on Music and Nature

What does it mean for one’s music to be inspired or informed by nature? How do musicians engage with nature in their own work? What does this word nature even mean? In this interview series, composer Ryan Suleiman (Ph.D.) talks with composers and performers about the role of nature in the work they do generally and asks what the role of artists is in our troubled times. On an aesthetic level, music provides a crucial space for us to reflect on the beauty around us and try to grapple with very deep and sometimes troubling philosophical questions that face us as individuals and as a civilization. Inspired by the heroic contributions of others at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Ryan hopes that sharing ideas and conversations about how musicians engage with nature will help inspire others to use their skills to help us find a way out of this crisis of our relationship with nature. Visual art by Sakurako Kanemitsu. www.ryansuleiman.com/rmn