Interview in Interlude magazine
Thrilled about this interview on Interlude that came out today about my piano-climate change project. Thank you Po Sim Head for allowing me to share this to a wider audience – I hope many more pianists will also sign up and take part to amplify awareness for this cause!
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by Fanny Po Sim Head May 22nd, 2022
Climate change, according to the United Nations, which is defined by long-term changes in climate and weather patterns, has become an alarming issue that threatens many human lives. Ironically, human activities are considered a primary cause of disastrous weather events. In the past years, more and more people from all sorts of life have been attempting to raise awareness about climate change. In the music industry, a group of musicians is stepping up, using their music and performance to remind us that our dear planet is in danger. American composer Brian Field is one of them. A winner of many notable awards, including the grand prize of the Vivaldi International Competition and the first prize of Briar Cliff Choral Music Competition, Field has recently started a project about climate change. He wrote Three Passions for our Tortured Planet for solo piano and invited many pianists from all over the world to perform and support this project. Field and I were connected under this circumstance. As I am working on recording the pieces, I decided to write an article to share this meaningful project with more audiences.
We connected on Facebook several months ago when you started the project about climate change. Can you tell our readers about this project? How long have you thought about doing this project?
I have been thinking about this topic for several years. The project is a means of creating a steady stream of awareness through music around our planet’s climate crisis, whose long-term impact is greater than world wars, political unrest, or the coronavirus pandemic.
There is a heat wave of historic proportions occurring in the Arctic right now, a region that is already the fastest warming place on Earth. With the warming of the planet, huge glaciers are melting in the Arctic and Antarctica, and, with that, sea levels are expected to rise between 10 and 32 inches (26 and 82 centimeters) or higher by the end of the century. This will also cause a reduction of drinking water, since glaciers store about three-quarters of the world’s freshwater, and are melting into the salt-water ocean.