Sonic Explorations of the Southernmost Continent: Four composers’ responses to Antarctica and climate change in the twenty-first century CAROLYN PHILPOTT Conservatorium of Music, Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 63, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia Email: Carolyn.Philpott@utas.edu.au Composers have been drawn to the world’s southernmost continent, Antarctica, for creative inspiration since the so-called ‘Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration’ in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, it has only been since the final few years of the twentieth century that professional composers have had opportunities to travel to the far south as part of arts residency programmes to experience its environment – and its unique soundscapes – first-hand. Most composers who have visited Antarctica to date have utilised sound recording technologies to document their journeys sonically and have subsequently created compositions that feature their soundscape recordings. Typically, such compositions include biological sounds, such as vocalisations of penguins and seals (both on the ice and underwater); non-biological or ‘geophysical’ ambient sounds that emanate from the natural landscape, such as those created by wind, blizzards, and ice cracking and calving; and/or anthropogenic (human) sounds recorded within the Antarctic environment. This article examines a series of recent compositions by four established composers who have visited Antarctica and used their experiences and field recordings to inform their creative work: Douglas Quin, Jay Needham, Lawrence English and Philip Samartzis. The primary aim of this research is to investigate what these composers’ Antarctica-related works reveal about their individual encounters with and perceptions of the frozen continent, as well as to consider the role of such compositions in conveying messages related to climate change to listeners around the globe – the vast majority of whom are unlikely to ever see or hear the place in person. 1. INTRODUCTION Antarctica is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on the planet and its unique and extreme environment has been a potent attraction for compo- sers since the so-called ‘Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration’ (c.1897–1922). From the occasional songs that were composed by explorers during early Antarctic expeditions, to the large-scale Antarctica- inspired orchestral works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Peter Maxwell Davies and Nigel Westlake, there have been musical works composed in connection with the far south in a wide range of genres and styles (Philpott 2012, 2013). While the majority of the compositions created in association with Antarctica during the twentieth century were inspired by stories of human endeavour, heroism and sacrifice on the ice, since the final few years of the twentieth century, composers interested in the southernmost continent have increas- ingly turned their attention towards the scientific and environmental issues under investigation in the region, and this is reflected in their creative work. This change of focus is undoubtedly related to the general rise of media and public interest in climate change and Antarctic research that has occurred within the same timeframe. However, it is also clear that it has been strongly influenced by the increased participation of composers in Antarctic arts residencies. Since the mid-1990s, numerous composers have visited the continent in person as part of arts fellowships offered by the Antarctic programmes of various nations with scientific bases in Antarctica, such as those operated by the United States’ National Science Foundation, the Australian Antarctic Division, the Argentine Dirección Nacional del Antártico and (until 2009) the British Antarctic Survey. 1 By their nature, such fellowships or residency programmes enable artists and writers to spend several weeks interacting with scientists and learning about current research being undertaken on board the research vessels and within the stations on the Antarctic continent, with the expectation that they will then disseminate the knowl- edge they have gained to wide audiences through their creative outputs. Most of the composers who have travelled southward since the mid-1990s have utilised sound 1 The British Antarctic Survey supported Peter Maxwell Davies and Craig Vear to travel to Antarctica on separate occasions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, respectively; however, its Artists and Writers Programme has not operated since 2009. Organised Sound 21(1): 83–93 © Cambridge University Press, 2016. doi:10.1017/S1355771815000400