Liam Mulligan is a 4th year Music Composition and English Major at Moravian College. After attending a Gershwin and Bernstein orchestral concert at the age of four, Liam began writing tunes and experimenting with music at the piano. Liam’s parents, seeing his potential, encouraged him to take formal music lessons at the age of 6 despite his initial hesitations. Today, Liam continues to create, write, direct, and perform music in various mediums but most passionately for stage and screen. In addition, Liam is a creative writer and playwright and uses his interest in literature and narrative writing to influence his music. In the near future, Liam aspires to use his abilities and gifts to inspire the next generation of brilliant minds on larger stages.

Introduction to the piece

tusaidie is a three movement character piece that evokes the beauty and devastation of three endangered species from three different continents: the Entre Ríos Seedeater of South America, the Javan Rhino from Asia, and the Silky Sifaka Lemur from Africa. Each animal is voiced by a different woodwind to represent the differences in voices and narratives between these various species. The Entre Ríos Seedeater, portrayed in this piece by the flute, can be found in the wet grasslands and marshes of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Threatened by habitat loss, pet trade trapping, and pesticides, these beautiful birds are endangered. The Javan Rhino, characterized in the second movement by the Bass Clarinet, could once be found in lowland rain forests across south-east asia but now only found on the tip of Ujung Kulon. Believing the Javan Rhino’s hide could make an antidote for snake venom and the horn could cure disease, the Javan Rhino was hunted for over 2,000 years. On the black market, the horn of the Javan Rhino could be sold for $30,000 per kg which is three times the value of an African rhinoceros horn. Due to these factors and the lack of awareness of their existence, only 67 Javan Rhinos remain in the world. The Silky Sifaka Lemur, personified by the Alto Saxophone, is found in the humid forests of northeastern Madagascar where they live in groups, called conspiracies, of two to nine lemurs. The Silky Sifaka Lemur can leap as far as ten yards from tree to tree. Due to logging of their habitat and the poaching of the lemur for food and their furs, less than a thousand Silk Sifakas are left in the world, with a little more than 100 of their population actually accounted for. The purpose of this piece is to give these forgotten animals a voice in hopes that the public might recognize their worth and beauty and take action to save them.