The Urban Ecosystem: Music inspired by the nature of cities

The Urban Ecosystem is a collaboration between Seattle-based composer Jessi Harvey, the Twin City’s own 10th Wave Chamber Music Collective, and the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Long-Term Ecological Research (MSP LTER) program. MSP LTER is a group of over 100 researchers, students, artists, and community organizers from the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, and other local institutions. They are studying the ecological structure and functioning of urban nature, including pollinators, urban forests, urban watersheds, and lakes and streams.

This performance brings ecological research to life through music and visuals. It explores how plants, animals, and humans interact with each other in the lakes, forests, and grasslands that make up our local, urban ecosystem. The piece consists of an 8-movement composition, with one movement for each of the MSP LTER’s fields of research and one to unite them together. The piece is composed for a mixed chamber quartet – percussion, violin, cello, and double bass – and set to a video background. It evokes each distinct branch of the MSP LTER’s research, from different urban habitats to contaminants to policy and governance.

Members of the MSP LTER’s research teams will be present before the concert with hands-on activities that illustrate the science behind The Urban Ecosystem.

Schedule

• Doors open at 6 p.m.
• From 6–7 p.m. participants can visit with MSP LTER researchers and each other 
• The concert will begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by an opportunity to connect with researchers and musicians