 My name is Luke Rappers, and I'm the executive director of Abundant Silence. And basically what I do is I also work with composers. So I do things like host composition, contests, and I have a school of which Isaac is one of winners. And I do a student event in Colorado every year called the Festival for Created Pianists. We also publish the works by the composers who are on our roster. And what else do we do? A few things. Help support new music in any way we can to celebrate new music. So we do that both here in Vermont and in Colorado and anywhere we can. We start to worry about the amazing work that living composers are doing and the art they're creating. So the other thing I'll say is this is an informal event. It's called New Music Uncaged because my intention is to get this music out of the concert hall and into the communities, sometimes outdoors when we can. So it's an informal thing. Feel free to go grab treats. People have already got some treats. Go grab some more. And if there might be some left after the concert, so we'll hang around and chat at the concert. I'd love to talk about new music. So without further ado, I'm going to welcome our dancers to the stage. And stage area. The first piece today is a series of 24 preludes by interdisciplinary artist Nathan Hall. Nathan Hall lives in Denver, Colorado. And he's an amazing artist who does cool things like car key orchestras at the Denver Art Museum. He has done some installations in Iceland. And for this piece, Nathan collaborated with a pianist and worked together to write these 24 preludes. So there's one for each month of the year and for each corresponding zodiac sign. So a good place to clap if you're inclined to do so would be following the month of zodiac. Some terms that I'm not used to. Okay, I'm going to welcome to the stage Mary Raul for our next piece. The next piece. Isaac, did you want to say anything about? Four of the courses are played and it's largely different. So in physics, I chose the four courses that act on slow down, etc. It's a piece, right? Four movements. In the ancient forest, Ayumi Okada was one of the first composers, the Rossfer Composers, of which there are about 35 now. But Ayumi was one of the first. And this is partly one of the reasons why I love new music is getting to meet the composer. Any time I'm in New York, I have lunch with Ayumi and we talk about music and talk about what she's writing and it's really awesome to be able to do that and how they're trying to express themselves in the world. One of the great things about playing the music with the composers is I came to a part that I wasn't quite sure of the interpretation. I was able to just pick up the phone in it. So it's a real treat to be here playing with Luke and Mary. I'm also a composer on the roster of Abundant Silence, so it's a treat to be playing just wonderful new music. So in this piece, Ayumi evokes the sounds of an ancient forest, where it evokes the healing of an ancient forest using the cello. You'll hear misty forests after a heavy rain in the calm, a sound of a hurried woodpecker pecking. You'll hear forest mints playfully talking with one another and a seabird circling over in the ancient forest. This sermons. The European comes to the Siddhartha Gattama with a barrage of ontological questions. How long has the universe been in existence? Who created it, etc.? Gattama replies with an analogy. It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives, would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker. He would say, I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name and clan of the man who wounded me. The man would die, and those things would still remain unknown to him. In the Buddhist teaching, speculative philosophies are not important. What matters is figuring out how to overcome suffering in everyday life. We will all die without answering the mysteries of physics and metaphysics, so the appropriate thing to do is to focus significant attention on living a better life here at Manor. The first movement of the poison arrow depicts suffering in a frantic, often fruitless attempt to find a way out. The second movement is a depiction of life without suffering, completely passive and free. The Bird of Prey. This is the two movement, Lisa, back up for this last piece. And thank you all so much for coming out. It's great to see so many people out enjoying art here in Montpelier. Feel free to grab more treats on the way out. I have a donation box there. Give what you can. All the money goes to support these amazing performers and composers that keeps this music flowing, so anything you can do to help with that. And I don't have programs for you, but if you want a sheet that lists all of the composer's names and pieces and also has our website on it, those are backed by the reception area. So you can take that home with you. Look up a composer. So this is Canto de la Avara Cuyega.