Composer and violinist Ellie Wilson will unveil her project ‘Moth X Human’ at Bradford’s Loading Bay and at London’s Southbank Centre this summer.
The piece, commissioned by Oxford Contemporary Music and supported by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, seeks to highlight declining biodiversity in the UK. Based on moth activity data gathered largely at Natural England’s Parsonage Down National Nature Reserve near Salisbury, Wilson’s composition will turn data into music, tracking moth behaviour through the night. Wilson says the idea came to her over breakfast one morning.
A summary of the project from her website reads: “‘Moth X Human’ is a sonic journey into the world as it comes alive after dark. Moth data collected by scientists at UKCEH has been sonified into immersive soundscapes, with each moth assigned a different sound. The ebb and flow of different species activity throughout the night is ‘performed’ alongside acoustic instruments, field recordings, electronics, and visuals, creating a unique interspecies experience.”
Stuart Hales, Natural England’s Senior Reserve Manager for National Nature Reserves in Wiltshire, chimed in on the importance of the project: “National Nature Reserves are our most important places for nature, so it’s exciting to see Parsonage Down providing inspiration for the arts, in addition to being crucial for conservation.
“We hope that this fabulous project helps connect people with nature through the power of music to bring it to a whole new audience.”
The data was recorded last summer, and the final composition was based on two data sets from two different environments. One set from Parsonage Down recorded 80 different moth species across a 4-hour window. Another set, from monoculture farmland, which uses pesticides, recorded just 19 different species.
Wilson says: “At some points the moths create short melodic fragments and these can be heard later in the piece as repeating motifs in the cello and piano.
“By contrast, the end of the piece uses data from a poor habitat, audibly demonstrating declining biodiversity due to human interference.”
Using UKCEH’s AMI system, a relatively new automated system used to monitor insects, Wilson converted this data into MIDI, a digital language used to store musical information. Using MIDI, she assigned different notes to each moth species, resulting in a 12-minute long composition. The accompanying visuals were created by students at the Northern School of Art.
‘Moth X Human’ will feature as part of Bradford’s 2025 UK City of Culture celebrations, and as part of this year’s New Music Biennial, a three-day festival showcasing new music from the country’s most exciting composers.
The piece will be performed by a live band, written for “2 violins, cello, tenor trombone, piano, synths, electronics … and moths.”
‘Moth X Human’ will run in Bradford from 6 June to Sunday 8 June, and London from 4 July to 6 July. The tickets are free. While all London shows have sold out, tickets for the Bradford venue are available here.
