Composing the Edge of the World: Sarah Bassingthwaighte’s Cape Flattery
- WOMCO
- Jun 4
- 5 min read
Sarah Bassingthwaighte achieved remarkable success in the 2025 Season 2 Couperin International Music Competition, where her composition Cape Flattery earned multiple top honours across various categories.
Biography
Canadian-American Composer, flutist, and educator Sarah Bassingthwaighte is an acclaimed member of the contemporary classical music scene, a music lecturer and clinician, and an award-winning composer who has taught, performed, and works performed in England, Iceland, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and the US. She’s the winner of the European Music, the International Satie, the International Saint-Saëns Competitions, the International Couperin Competition, a two-time finalist for the American Prize in Composition, and her pieces have often won the NFA Newly Published Music Award. The London Symphony Orchestra recorded Dr. Bassingthwaighte’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra in 2023, and a full album is in progress for 2024. She will be Composer-in-Residence in Sweden, at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC) as well as at the Uncool Residency in Switzerland.
Her compositions have been performed by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest, the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, the Sound Ensemble, the Ecco Chamber Ensemble, and members of the Iceland Symphony, among others. Her solo CDs include Songs from the Caucasus, Stalks in the Breeze and Flute Meets Machine, and she and guitarist Mark Wilson recorded Around the World and Through Time as the ensemble Sirocco. The British journal Pan Magazine acclaims her “hypnotic and rich sound” and goes on to say “The tone quality is full of depth and power. Bassingthwaighte seems to have a particular talent for communicating the message of contemporary pieces,” which are “performed with polish and virtuosity.” She is the author of the book Flute Meets Machine, and has been awarded the Stan Chu Essay award. Dr. Bassingthwaighte is Head of Composition at Seattle Pacific University.
Could you share the inspiration behind "Cape Flattery Symphonic Poem" and the message you hope to convey through it?
Cape Flattery is a dramatic and beautiful place. It is the point of land at the northwesternmost corner of the continental United States; to the Macah Tribe that inhabits the region, it is known as “the end of the world.” The Macah have inhabited this place for about 3800 years and have lived sustainably with nature that entire time. Recently, in June 2024, they were granted the rights to return to a limited subsistence-level whale hunt – one of only two places in the US where this is legal (the other is in northwestern Alaska).
Environmental activists have protested this allowance, but I think that this might be an example of how we can live in harmony with nature: knowing how to live sustainably and in harmony with the land we are part of. At Cape Flattery, there is a lighthouse that warns ships of the dangers there where the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Juan de Fuca meet – tempestuous winds, rocky outcroppings, heavy fog and choppy waters. On a sunny day, the water sparkles, the spray from the waves glitters, the blue of the ocean is startling against the green of the forest, and seals and whales inhabit the waters. On stormy days, the waves crash against the rocky shores, the wind whips through the trees, and the view can be hidden in a heavy mist. These images are the inspiration for this piece, my attempt to express my love of one of my favorite places.
Cape Flattery Symphonic Poem begins with a burst of drama, presented by the brass, with bold energy. Shortly, the energy withdraws and becomes melodic, contemplative, the woodwinds and strings singing and welcoming the visitor. The emotional builds again, like a vigorous inhale, and then exhales again. As the winds whip up, a dark storm approaches, signaling danger, becoming quite dark, and then it passes as quickly as it came. Then we experience the waves, as they ebb and flow, splashing into the air, and then pulling back out into the sea again. Instrumental solos weave in and out of the texture created by the harp and vibraphone. The waves grow in intensity, becoming fuller, and adding instruments until the entire orchestra is participating. Next, we experience the playful, bouncy little creatures of the woods and sea: birds flitting, fish jumping, otters diving. Finally, all of these elements come together in a final moment of joy and exuberance.
What was your creative process like while composing "Cape Flattery Symphonic Poem"? How did you approach the structure and dynamics of the piece?
I started the process with two tools that help me a lot: a “brain dump” and a “time line.” The brain dump starts as a blank document and I just throw every crazy idea I have about the piece into it? What interesting sounds can each of the instruments make? How can an orchestra sound like crashing waves? What are some little musical tidbits that I want to include somewhere in the piece, but I don’t know where? So, the brain dump is like a holding place for all of the ideas, so I can remember them and so that I can figure out where they best go, rather than using them right away. The time line is just a line, with 0:00 at one end and 7:00 minutes (or whatever length the piece is) at the other.
On it, I sketch a loose picture of what I want the piece to be like at certain moments. Do I want to start loudly or quietly? Do I want to end loudly or quietly? Where is the climax to the piece? What instrumental solos do I want to include, and where would they go in the piece? The two tools work well together – when I’ve got a solid idea on the brain dump that I know I want in the piece, I drop it onto the time line (usually using a nickname like “violin oboe duet”, and then refer back to the brain dump when I’m ready to notate. I also add the large-scale dynamics to the timeline, and this makes it easier to choose the textures – how many instruments, how complicated a rhythm, and so on. I use an iPad, and so I also color-code all of these ideas, and after a few weeks of work, both of these documents begin to look like pieces of art.
How did you collaborate with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Bobby Collins for the music recording, and were there any memorable moments during the session?
Working with the London Symphony Orchestra is amazing – everyone is friendly and welcoming, and just there to do a good job. We had a couple of surprises, like when the viola solo line just simply wasn’t on the part. It had disappeared when the program hadn’t updated around the page breaks, so all of a sudden in the middle of recording, we had to scramble to open up the notation program, type the solo line back in, and print the part. There are some nice session photos that I’ll attach. You can also get a good feel for the experience by watching the videos on YouTube that go with each of the pieces – we had photographers and videographers there the whole time.
Would you like to share your experience participating in our competition and thank anyone?
I owe a gigantic thanks to the producer, Fernando Arias of Aria Classics – he made all of this possible. Also, to Bobby Collins (a friend of mine from Seattle) and to the London Symphony Orchestra.
