November 16, 2025
2pm Central
Aileen Razey, clarinet and Kathryn Ananda Owens, piano

St. Olaf College, Urness Recital Hall

A faculty recital that will address Climate Change and Climate Worries will include music, poetry reading and meditation. Faculty members include Assistant Professor of Music Aileen Razey, clarinet; Professor of Music Kathryn Ananda-Owens, piano, Assistant Professor of Music Wesley Dunnagan, voice; and Associate Professor of Practice in English and Director of Environmental Conversation Juliet Patterson, creative writing and poetry reading. This event is free and open to the public

The Blessing Trees explores the emotional landscape of our connection to nature. Inspired by Wendell Berry’s poem “Woods,” the work reflects on the quiet reverence found in the forest, where stillness is filled with the subtle music of the natural world. The clarinet and piano interweave timbral colors and lyrical lines, echoing the imagery of a silent wood alive with sound.

As the piece unfolds, the music grows in energy, moving from shadow into light—a reflection on beauty, responsibility, and our role in preserving the fragile ecosystems that surround us. The final moments drift into silence, like wind moving through the trees, leaving space for reflection.