SONORITY Terra (2021)

Terra is the second work in Johanna Elina Sulkunen’s SONORITY series. While the earlier work Koan explored the voice in an electroacoustic space, Terra expands the sonic landscape into a full ensemble setting.

 

The project brings together voice, strings, horns, and drums, forming a band in which the voice moves fluidly between language, texture, and instrumental gesture. Rather than treating the voice as a separate solo element, Terra allows vocal material to transform into instrumental sound: syllables, rhythms and phonetic fragments unfold through the ensemble and shape the compositions.

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Line Up: 

Anders Filipsen - keys

Carolyn Goodwin - sax, clarinet

Henrik Pulz Melbye - sax, clarinet 

Francesco Bigoni - sax, clarinet 

Bettina Marie Ezaki  - violin

Mika Persdottir - viola 

Nicole Hogstrand - cello

Anders Vestergaard - drums 

feat. Michiyo Yagi - koto 

 

The music draws on Sulkunen’s background in improvisation and contemporary composition, creating a space where written material and collective improvisation coexist. The ensemble includes an international group of musicians and the string ensemble Halvcirkel, whose presence broadens the sonic palette with layered strings and subtle orchestral textures alongside winds and percussion.

 

At its core, Terra reflects on the human relationship with nature. The work emerged during a period marked by the pandemic and growing awareness of climate change, prompting questions about modern ways of living and our distance from the natural world. The compositions move between fragile, atmospheric passages and more expansive ensemble moments, creating musical landscapes that mirror both the vulnerability and the resilience of nature.

 

Through this larger instrumental format, Terra transforms the vocal language developed in earlier SONORITY works into a collective musical ecology. The result is a work that listens closely to the textures of the natural world while exploring how human voices and instruments can resonate within it.