In June of 2013, engineer Sylvia Wald and I completed work on an experimental device that could capture audio signals from parallel universes. By some extraordinary luck, the first thing we heard was recognizably human in origin. In fact, it was a theatrical performance — in English! — that revealed quite a bit about the conditions in which it was produced. In that universe, it seems, people are forced into strict social roles based on whether they’re right- or left-handed. The performance told the story of a group of dissidents who founded a utopian community called the Free Zone, only to find themselves targeted by a violent right-wing dictatorship.

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Unfortunately, the machine overheated after only fifteen minutes, and the recording was destroyed in the resulting fire. The schematics for the machine were also lost, and we were unable to recreate our work. But I did manage to transcribe most of the piece from memory, and I have since arranged it for Cadillac Moon Ensemble's surprisingly similar instrumentation. The result is as close as we have come to a direct dispatch from another Earth, whose history took a very different course from our own.

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For more information, see Cadillac Moon's interview with me. Includes spoilers!

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download score (pdf)

download libretto (pdf)

list of sound sources (pdf)