Next Planet (for orchestra)

Next Planet

for orchestra

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Dedicated to the players of the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf Symphony.

Next Planet is the 12^th piece in the“Green Piece” series commissioned and premiered in 2023-2024 by the TonhalleDüsseldorf GmbH and the Düsseldorf Symphony as part of their Green Mondays project. Next Planet was premiered in the
Düsseldorf Tonhalle on Friday 28 June, 2024, when the entire series of twelve works were performed as one mega-symphony. The program was also performed on the 30^th of June and the 1^st of July. The concerts were conducted by Axel Kober.

Part of my brief was also to select the other 11 composers to be commissioned. When combined into a single meta-work(with additional inter-piece transitions I’d also been asked to compose) the programme became:

Somei Satoh(Japan) Circulation(Green Piece No. 3: "Public Transport")

Shiva Feshareki(Iran/UK) Recurring(Green Piece No. 4: "Nutrition")

Aziza Sadikova(Uzbekistan) Heat Efficiency (GreenPiece No. 5: "heat efficiency")

Eve de Castro Robinson (NZ) FuriousBurials (Green Piece No. 2: "energy efficiency")

Gordon Hamilton(Australia) Upcycle(Green Piece No. 1: "Waste and Recycling")

Juhi Bansal(India/Hong Kong) Flash,Shimmer, Glow, Spark (Green Piece No. 8: "Biodiversity")

Kristjan Jarvi(Estonia) OHM– Twilight (Green Piece No. 9: "Energy Generation")

Leila Adu-Gilmore (NZ/Ghana) Agua Es Vida (Green Piece No. 7 on the theme of "Water")

Enrico Chapela(Mexico) Spinphony(Green Piece No. 10: "bicycle travel")

Adeline Wong(Malaysia) Verdure(Green Piece No. 11: "CO2 compensation")

Yuan-Chen Li(Taiwan) Digitally Made Possible (Green Piece No. 6: "Digitalization")

John Psathas(NZ) Next Planet (“Green Piece” No.12)

I was the only composer not presented with a topic. My work was subsequently triggered by the self-aggrandizing heroes who are intent on spending billions in taking a few people to Mars, rather than invest that same money in improving life here on earth – which they could do dramatically, and immediately, for all of humanity, with the staggering wealth they’ve hoarded.

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