Programme Notes

Whitney Sheng - Foxfire
Written during a bout with the flu, Foxfire emerged from the haze of fever. Built on shimmering but unstable harmonies, the music wanders through a nocturnal landscape where the boundaries between beauty and unease dissolve into something both vivid and strange. Small points of light punctuate the darkness: foxfire glowing on decaying wood, moonlight filtering through dense vegetation, the brief flicker of a firefly. Each luminous moment contains multitudes—wonder and threat inseparable, the beautiful and the uncanny. Whimsy and omen in a single spark.
Foxfire was first performed by Carla Rees at Nottingham Contemporary on 22 March 2026.
Foxfire was first performed by Carla Rees at Nottingham Contemporary on 22 March 2026.