Come to the Woods - Jake Runestad

"Come to the Woods" by Jake Runestad. Performed by the Georgia State University Singers -- Deanna Joseph, conductor.

Commissioned by Conspirare -- Craig Hella Johnson, conductor.

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About:

Famed Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist John Muir had a giddy, child-like excitement for the natural world. After a youth spent in Scotland and Wisconsin, he found himself transformed by his first visit, around age 30, to California’s Yosemite Valley. With the vast mountainous landscape and the surreal size of the sequoia and redwood trees, these woods captured him and became his playground, his classroom, and his sanctuary.

Muir was an avid “saunterer” and a profound thinker who would venture into the woods for days with a bit of food and a book of Emerson poetry in hand. Inspired by the beauty of the wilderness and a lifelong love for words, Muir penned a vast collection of eloquent and vivid writings. In one quintessentially Muirian account, he is so fascinated by a storm that he climbs up a tall Douglas Fir to experience it more intensely.

“Come to the Woods” explores Muir’s inspirations and the transporting peace found in the natural world. Using a collage of fragments from Muir’s writings, the work ventures from the boisterous joy of a “glorious day,” to the quiet whispering of wind, to the rejuvenating power of a storm, to the calming “amber light” when the clouds begin to clear. I hope it captures the self-discovery and sustenance one encounters while exploring the outdoors and its vital importance in our lives. As Muir writes, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

All photos © 2016 Jake Runestad. All rights reserved.