The Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha River is the ancestral home of the Lower Elwha Klallam people and of five species of salmon, all of whom were abruptly dispossessed in 1910 when two dams were built without fish ladders. These dams cut the salmon off from 90 percent of their habitat, drove the tribe off their land and, through ensuing legislation, made it illegal for them to maintain their fishing rights — and with them, the tribe’s core sustenance and vital integral spiritual connection to the river. From 2011–2014, both dams were removed, leading to astounding environmental recovery and a sense of hope in our region and beyond. These dam removals have turned out to be models driving similar removals, not only here but in other countries. Composer Annea Lockwood and flutist Claire Chase immersed themselves in the Elwha River habitat and history to create a portrait of a resilient ecosystem and a resilient people.

PRAx and the School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts: Claire Chase: Elwha!

In 2012, flutist Claire Chase was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, known colloquially as the “Genius Grant.” She then embarked on a bold, 24-year project to develop a new flute repertory that will culminate in 2036 on the centennial of Edgard Varèse’s iconic flute solo, Density 21.5. Elwha!, composed by legendary electroacoustic composer Annea Lockwood, is the 12th cycle of the project. The 40-minute work is scored for seven flutes, all played by Chase, and for multichannel environmental surround sound made from Lockwood’s field recordings of the Elwha River.​

From 1911 to 2014, dams blocked fish passage on the lower Elwha, a 45-mile river on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula that runs through the ancestral and spiritual home of the Lower Elwha Klallam people. After the complete removal of the dams — following decades of activism by the Klallam — the Elwha has come back to life. The river is one of only a few in the Pacific Northwest that hosts all five species of native Pacific salmon and four anadromous trout species.​

Drawing inspiration from movements advocating for personhood and legal rights of rivers, Lockwood and Chase approach the Elwha as an equal creative collaborator in the composition of the work. Bamboo water flutes, glissando flutes, piccolos, alto flutes, bass flutes, C flutes,= and contrabass flutes merge with an immersive seven-channel mix of the river’s sounds diffused throughout the performance space. Chase’s seven flutes respond to the multilayered and kaleidoscopic pitch, rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic material of the Elwha and its many living inhabitants, alternately conversing with, rising above, and being submerged by the wild musics of this iconic, liberated river. 

This is a special presentation of the popular Hour for the Ears program at PRAx in which the Ray Theater is transformed into an immersive, multichannel listening environment. ​