FARMING WILL BE RELEASED ON DEATHBOMB ARC RECORDS, OCT 2025

Ted Hearne, Farming
score cover image by Nia Easley

notes Farming looks to the long-tail impact of settler colonialism and its philosophical motivations on agricultural degradation, big tech utopianism, labor alienation, corporate religiosity, and the abstraction of community — and sets these interrogations to a unique and bombastic sound world that marries disparate strains of post-modern musics, auto-tune choirs, and hyper pop.

This hour-long work is a setting of two primary texts — those of the colonist William Penn, in his writings to and about the Lenape people as he was in the process of colonizing the land they were occupying (the land now known as Pennsylvania); and Jeff Bezos, from various speeches and interviews about the expansion of Amazon. These two voices are set as a dialogue. Interspersing them are texts from various advertising around the industry of modern food production: tweets from UberEats in the year following the onset of the pandemic; copy selling the Farmer’s Fridge rewards program; the services of law firms who want to help you process H-2A nonimmigrant worker visas.

Ted Hearne interview with NPR’S Nate Chinen

Ellie Sutherland performing in Farming.

FARMING

ensemble 24 voices and 6 instruments (2 guitars incl. lap steel, 2 percussion/drums, 2 keyboards, with live processing and programmed electronics)
duration 60 minutes
music and libretto by Ted Hearne
commissioned by The Crossing; Donald Nally, director
with original support from Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
premiere June 22-26, 2023 at Arts @ Kings Oaks, Bucks County, PA
additional performances
July 3, 2023, Big Sing Festival, Toneelschuur; Haarlem, Netherlands
July 9, 2023, Caramoor Center for Music and Arts; Katonah, NY
directed by Ash Tata
design and engagement dramaturgy by Nia Easley
costume design by Rebecca Kanach
lighting design by Carolina Ortiz Herrera and Pablo Santiago
sound design by Paul Vazquez
recording Farming (2025, Deathbomb Arc)

FARMING

A short film by Peter English
Released March 2023

Farming at Big Sing Festival, The Netherlands

Performers
Donald Nally, conductor
The Crossing, 24 vocalists
featured soloists:
Elisa Sutherland
Maren Brehm
Steven Bradshaw
Katy Avery
Jackson Williams

Band
Taylor Levine, guitars and lap steel
Viva DeConcini, guitar
John Grecia, keyboards
Rohan Chander, keyboards and electronics
Clara Warnaar, drums and percussion
Ron Wiltrout, drums and percussion

interview with Ted Hearne and crop scientist and activist Dr. Sarah Taber on Sing for Science podcast

WORKS
 

LARGE WORKS WITH VOICES

Farming (2023, 60 min.)
24 voices, 6 instruments
Place (2018/2020, 80 min.)
18 instruments, 6 voices
In Your Mouth (2019)
voice and ensemble; voice and piano
Sound from the Bench (2014/2017, 40 min.)
mixed choir with 2 electric guitars and percussion
Coloring Book (for Roomful of Teeth) (2015, 30 min.)
vocal octet
The Source (2014, 65 min.)
7 instruments, 4 voices
Partition (2010, 20 min.)
mixed choir with full orchestra
Katrina Ballads (2007, 60 min.)
11 instruments, 5 voices


ORCHESTRA

In Thrall (2019, 15 min.)
wind ensemble
Brass Tacks (2018, 6 min.)
large orchestra
Miami in Movements (2017, 35 min.)
large orchestra with video
Dispatches (2015, 18 min.)
large orchestra
Respirator (2015, 13 min.)
chamber orchestra
Stem (2013, 25 min.)
large orchestra
Law of Mosaics (2012, 30 min.)
string orchestra
Erasure Scherzo (2012, 6 min.)
large orchestra
Word for Word (2011, 10 min.)
large orchestra
Shizz (2010/2017, 4 min.)
versions for large orchestra and chamber orchestra
Build a Room (2010, 20 min.)
concerto for trumpet and orchestra
Patriot (2007, 9 min.)
large orchestra

SOLO WORKS

Lobby Music (2021, 7 min.)
solo cello, with electronics
Inheritance (2021, 5 min.)
solo piano
The Luminous Road (2020, 2 min.)
solo piccolo
Distance Canon (2020, 3 min.)
solo violin
Another National Anthem (2019, 5 min.)
solo piano
DaVZ23BzMH0 (2016, 7 min.)
solo cello, with electronics
Parlor Diplomacy (2011, 20 min.)
solo piano
Nobody's (2010, 4 min.)
solo violin or viola

 

CHAMBER MUSIC
(2-5 instruments)

Exposure (2017, 18 min.)
string quartet
To Be the Thing (2017, 10 min.)
voice, electric guitar and percussion, with live electronics
The Answer to the Question That Wings Ask (2016, 11 min.)
string quartet and narrator
Furtive Movements (2013, 14 min.)
cello and percussion
Interlude for Fingers (2013, 4 min.)
two vibraphones
Candy (2011, 8 min.)
electric guitar quartet
Thaw (2009, 12 min.)
percussion quartet
Ghostspace (2009, 8 min.)
mixed quartet (accordion, electric guitar, piano, drums)
Vessels (2008, 10 min.)
trio (violin, viola, piano)
Crib Dweller (2007, 8 min.)
mixed quintet (bass clarinet, elec. guitar, trumpet, trombone, horn)
23 (2005, 8 min.)
mixed quintet (flute, horn, elec. guitar, piano, drums)
Warning Song (2006, 7 min.)
voice and cello, with electronics
One of Us, One of Them (2005, 8 min.)
piano and percussion
Forcefield (2004, 5 min.)
viola and vibraphone


MEDIUM TO LARGE ENSEMBLE MUSIC
(6-16 instruments)

To Be Whole Is To Be Part (2021, 7 min.)
14 musicians
Authority (2019, 30 min.)
10 musicians
Time is forever dividing itself toward innumerable futures [Speed is Pure] (2019, 40 min.)
for Pam Tanowitz Dance 4 horns, electric guitar, voice with live processing
One Like (2016, 7 min.)
14 musicians
For the Love of Charles Mingus (2016, 9 min.)
6 violins
Baby [an argument] (2016, 11 min.)
10 musicians
By-By Huey (2014, 10 min.)
sextet (fl, bcl, vln, vc, pno, perc)
"The Cage" Variations (2014, 20 min.)
6 instruments (fl, cl/bcl, vln, vc, pno, perc) with baritone solo
Crispy Gentlemen (2012, 15 min.)
7 instruments (fl/picc, cl/bcl, vln, vla, vc, pno, perc)
But I Voted for Shirley Chisholm (2012, 8 min.)
11 instruments+tape
Randos (2012, 8 min.)
7 instruments (L'Histoire septet)
Cutest Little Arbitrage (2011, 12 min.)
6 instruments (2 sax, trombone + rhythm section)
Is it Dirty (2010, 8 min.)
16 instruments with 2 singers
versions for 10 instruments and 6 instruments
Eyelid Margin (2009, 12 min.)
10 instruments (brass quintet + 5 double-reeds)
Snowball (2008, 6 min.)
8 instruments (bcl, tpt, tbn, vln, acc, egtr, pno, dr)
version for 7 instruments (bcl, bn, tpt, tbn, vln, db, perc)
Illuminating the Maze (2008/2016, 15 min.)
6 instruments (tpt, hn, tbn, egtr, pno, dr)
version for 11 instruments
Music from "Body Soldiers" (2008, 10 min.)
5 instruments + singer
Cordavi and Fig (2007, 8 min.)
13 instruments
Antiphon (2003, 8 min.)
9 instruments (3 cl, bcl, 3 tpt, tbn, pno)

CHORAL MUSIC

In The Language of Truth (2022, 10 min.) SATB choir with string quartet
Texting With Your Dad in the Anthropocene (2019, 12 min.)
Animals (2018, 9 min.)
Fervor (2018, 3 min.)
What it might say (2016, 5 min.)
Coloring Book (2015, 30 min.)
Consent (2014, 7 min.)
Ripple (2012, 10 min.)
Privilege (2009, 14 min.)
Mass for St. Mary’s (2008, 10 min.)

Music for youth choir:
The Definition of Crisis (2020, 2-5 min.)
Room for Something (2011, 8 min.)
Away (2010, 6 min.)
Because (2006, 6 min.)
Murder on the Road in Alabama (2003, 6 min.)

SONG AND SOLO VOICE

Freefucked (2022)
voice and solo cello, with vocal processing and fixed electronics
Translation: Two Cigar Butts (2021)
two singers with electronics (optional piano and/or bass)
In Your Mouth/Dorothea (2019)
voice and ensemble; voice and piano
To Be the Thing (2017, 10 min.)
voice, electric guitar and percussion, with live electronics
Intimacy and Resistance (2010, 5 min.)
voice and piano
Charleston Songbook (2008, 20 min.)
voice and piano w/ lead sheets
I Remember (2007, 8 min.)
for three sopranos, or one soprano with electronics
I Carry Your Heart (2007, 5 min.)
voice and piano
Warning Song (2006, 7 min.)
voice and cello, with electronics


COLLABORATIVE WORKS

Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music [orchestral version] (2022)
We Are Radios (2018)
Miami in Movements (2017)
The Answer to the Question That Wings Ask (2016)
Hand Eye (2015)
New Dances for the League of David (2014) 
You're Causing Quite a Disturbance (2013)
R WE WHO R WE (2013)
Histories (2012)