FESTIVAL MUSIC, ARTIST, AND FARM INFORMATIONPROGRAM
i grew up on a farm by Jonathan Posthuma SOIL BENEATH YOUR HANDS by Alicia Erlandson (World Premiere) SPARROW GRASS by Heather Barringer ARVEGODS (HEIRLOOM) Heather Barringer 
I grew up on a farm (2024)
By Jonathan Posthuma I grew up on a farm, for Zeitgeist and fixed media, features a collection of field recordings I collected in 2013 from my childhood farm. These recordings represent an environment that no longer exists since my parents retired from hog farming shortly after they were made. As a first-generation college graduate from a rural Wisconsin community, my experiences growing up on a farm set me apart from many of my colleagues. This background is important to understanding who I am as a person and form my earliest sonic memories as a composer. Rural communities have changed dramatically in our nation with sharp contrasts between urban and rural life. As an artist with one foot in urban life and the other in my childhood memories on the farm, I feel torn between two worlds, often feeling like I don't belong in either. 
SOIL BENEATH YOUR HANDS (2026)
By Alicia Erlandson Detroit, despite its rich cultural history and urban status, is partially abandoned. Many of the residential blocks further from downtown are quiet, overgrown, and gardened by their people. It is a place rife with love and resources that are close to home. Growing up there and now moving to New York, I’ve grown to miss that closeness we had with the natural world that had bent itself to hold our city (even if the urban cockroaches had evolved to be phenomenally large). Many of us alive today are disconnected from our relationship to the earth; where our food comes from, the impact of our choices, and the history we’ve had as foragers or farmers before the advent of mass production. to thrive somewhere rural, where your neighbors are physically distant and the space between is filled with life beyond our own, is to thrive with that same love from what is close to you. for all the differences and disconnection between places, and the facets of each other’s lives we’ve yet to understand, we’re all cared for by the same soils. I hope that my brief blend of orchestral and found sound helps you close your eyes and root yourself to where you are, where you’ve been, and where you want to be. Soil Beneath Your Hands is created and presented as part of the Luna Lab@10 Anniversary Celebration. Founded by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid in 2016, Luna Lab supports young female, non-binary, and gender non-conforming composers through mentorship, education, and professional opportunities. 
Sparrow Grass (2025)
By Heather Barringer Sparrow Grass is grounded in the history, biology, horticulture, and family lore surrounding that most delicious spring perennial, asparagus. A perennial, it's origins are in Asia, but it has been cultivated and foraged around the world and arrived in North America with early colonists. My mother tended an asparagus bed, patiently nurturing spring spears through the three years it takes to establish the crowns before a harvest can occur. After that, her asparagus nourished our family year after year. A properly tended bed will deliver culinary delight for 20 years or more, but grassy weeds and lapses in fertilization are a continual threat. Asparagus is one of the first vegetables to be available in the northland, with crowns poking through the wet and chilly May mornings. It's season, ending by the 4th of July, is brief. Midsummer, the plant explodes into tall, feathery fronds as it works to capture the energy of the sun and bustle it down to the cellar of it's roots. Fall and winter dormancy serves it well, and a nice insulating cover of leaves and snow bodes well for the following year. My grandmother did not bother with asparagus, and said that her family, and those around her, never ate the plant, being put off by it's abundance in ditches and proximity to graveyards. She said that in the times of her childhood people would plant asparagus on graves because of it's beautiful fronds and reliable annual rising. I follow in my mother's stead, and have established two asparagus patches and am soon to invest my time in a third. My children will also have plots of their own, having grown to value this reliable but brief visitor. — Heather Barringer 
Arvegods (Heirloom) (2026)
By Heather Barringer The three movements of Arvegods pay homage to the many things- artifacts, tales, or traditions - passed down from one generation to another. In recent years, as elders age, children come of age, and grandchildren arrive (Yay!), I find myself appreciating my family history contained in those things passed down to me, and now which are my responsibility to pass to future generations. Grandmother's dishware, grandfather's milking stool, recipes, dances, are all part of the thread from my ancestors to me, informing me and my families' generations to follow of where we come from, what we are, and what we might become. Not to be taken lightly. Arvegods is dedicated to my first granddaughter, arriving in January 2027. 
Jonathan Posthuma is a freelance composer and musician living in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His musical style seeks to combine lyricism, evocative imagery, and intense emotional contrasts while maintaining clarity in form and function at their deepest levels. He is often inspired by natural landscapes, gardening and visual art in his compositions and his largest project is Paul Klee : Painted Songs, an ongoing collection of chamber music inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee. He received his Masters in Music Composition from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he studied with Stephen Dembski and Laura Schwendinger and also studied composition with Luke Dahn at Dordt University. Jonathan is an active member of the Twin Cities choral community and has sung with VocalEssence Chorus, Kantorei, and impulse (MPLS) which have premiered several of his choral works in recent seasons. He also works as the Artistic Planning Manager for The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Alicia Erlandson (age 22) is a composer from Detroit currently based in New York City. She is inspired by brief research stints about natural phenomena; using sound to illustrate them fluidly, engagingly, and to connect them to emotional experiences. She hopes to find sounds that are sparse, yet deeply textured; and that listening to her music feels like a bird flying past your window: fleeting, colorful, and grounding. Alicia was recently commissioned by Composers Now for their Second Stage Initiative (2024). She is currently pursuing a B.M. in Composition at Mannes School of Music with Kamala Sankaram.
Heather Barringer is a percussionist/improvisor/composer who creates work that sits at the intersection of sound art and the rural experience and addresses issues such as land ownership/accessibility/equity, rural community, food production, and sustainability. Through creating innovative arts experiences, her work brings rural and urban people together to further understanding and strengthen our food systems, environment, and democracy. Sparrow Grass is part of a body of music compositions grounded in rural culture, history, and social issues, real and imagined.
Photo by Shruthi Rajasekar 
MICHELLE KINNEY’s career began in Minneapolis, MN, when she returned home after receiving a BA in music from Northwestern University. During this early phase in her career, she was recognized and frequently funded as a composer & cellist, collaborating with Twin Cities choreographers (Laurie Van Wieren), filmmakers (Chris Sullivan, Chicago) and theater artists (Michael Sommers), in addition to composing for her own new music ensembles (IMP ORK, Aphid Bloodbath Consort). In 1989, she moved to New York City to pursue an MA in Performance Studies at New York University. Michelle lived in NYC for 13 years, recording and touring Europe and the US with several of her mentors; bridging musical genres and scenes, from art music (Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Myra Melford), to pop (Sheryl Crow, Natalie Merchant, Lou Reed); and composing for dance (Cyrus Khambatta), film (Debra Dickson) and theater (Richard Schechner).
Michelle returned to the Twin Cities in 2002, to raise her young family. In addition to again becoming very actively engaged in the community as a composer and performer, Michelle is the Musician in Residence for the Dance Program within the University of Minnesota’s Theater Arts and Dance Department. In this perfect “day job” for a musician/composer, Michelle improvises compositions in daily dance classes, with her cello played through a looping device. Each day Michelle spends hours reading bodies in motion as if they were sheet music, spontaneously creating and layering multiple cello parts, starting from a rhythmic foundation and building harmony, texture and melodic phrasing. 
Barringer Family Farms is a third generation family farm located in the verdant Trimbelle River valley in western Wisconsin. They grow vegetables, hay, CBD hemp products, present arts and education events, and host community celebrations.
Barringer Family Farms centers the production of healthy and delicious food in a sustainable manner that nourishes our customers, improves our land, and connects with community. Their food can be purchased at local farmer's markets, through a CSA, online, or at the farm. |
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