Brooklyn-based composer Molly Herron is one fourth of the West 4th New Music collective and finds inspiration in both science and newly-invented instruments. Her most recent project, The Same River, was commissioned by Concert Black with texts by John Knight. Upcoming projects in 2016 include collaborations with Dartmouth College, West 4th New Music, and Mantra Percussion.

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2016 is going to be an exciting year for you. What’s happening at Dartmouth?

Dartmouth has asked me to write a piece in response to on-going work at the Thayer School of Engineering. It is part of a three year project focusing on a bridge between the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts the STEM schools at Dartmouth. The first two composers were Fay Wang and Tristan Perich who worked with the Biology and Math departments. I’m going to be visiting campus and spending time observing the work going on at the Engineering school and meeting with teachers and students. The Thayer school is doing some fascinating work in infectious disease detection and looking at the molecular building blocks of materials. They also have a special lab that is used just to study ice! I’m so excited to get to go there and poke around.

Science is really at the heart of my music, so this is a very meaningful collaboration for me. My musical material is inspired by the properties of motion and energy, and understanding the physics behind all that is really important for my composing. ...

Molly Herron – Photo by Juan Carlos Hernandez