Scott Ordway – Thinking Through Music: Voice, Memory, and the American West

In this public talk, composer Scott Ordway – Associate Professor and Head of Music Composition at Rutgers University, 2025–2026 Visiting Scholar at Stanford’s Bill Lane Center for the American West, and a frequent collaborator with leading vocalists and ensembles – explores how music can serve as a tool for thinking about place, identity, memory, and the environment in California and the broader American West. Drawing on his work that engages themes of landscape, climate, and cultural history, Ordway reflects on how composers can use sound not just to illustrate ideas but to cultivate empathy, curiosity, and emotional attachment to the natural world.

This lecture also introduces Evening Land, a yearlong residency project at Stanford that invites students to explore Northern California landscape and cultural identity through the medium of song, blending poetry, voice, and musical form.

Admission Information

• Free admission