Leilehua Lanzilotti

while they are still there — for percussion, piano (or virtual instrument), string quartet, and fixed media (2025)

Commissioned by ETHEL with support from ETHEL’s Foundation for the Arts, duration 10’

while they are still there draws its name from a translation of some of the descriptive text in Vivaldi’s “La primavera” from Le quattro stagioni.

indi tancendo questi gl’augelletti, tornan di nuovo al lor canoro incanto: canto d’uccelli
then, these little birds, while they are still there, return to their singing enchantment: song of birds

In response to ETHEL’s prompt as part of their “Season’s Now: Vivaldi, present at 300” project, the title perhaps refers to the seasons themselves, while they are still there, or perhaps the birds. Amidst a re-rendering of Vivaldi’s birds (car horns? city sounds?) in the first interlude, we hear a rare ‘i‘iwi call. In Hawaiʻi, often referred to as “the extinction capital of the world,” we hold our breath in between sightings of native birds, hoping to hear one more song.

The fixed media in the first and second movements, and the original virtual instrument built for this piece, were built from the sounds of Liliʻuokalani’s koa piano that currently is housed at Washington Place. Koa is the largest of the native trees in Hawai‘i and is home to thirty varieties of Native birds, over half of which are endangered.

We care for these environments as we can, while we are still here.

— Leilehua Lanzilotti, 30 July 2025

Premiere anticipated December 12, 2025 at the MET Museum by ETHEL and friends. The commissioners currently hold exclusivity of the work.

Upcoming Performances

Friday, December 12, 2025 — ETHEL and friends premiere while they are still there at the MET Museum, New York, NY