MTSU - Jacksonville State University Percussion Ensemble - Dr. Matthew Jordan, Director

"SHELL was inspired by the work of photojournalist Seph Lawless who has traveled across the United States capturing images of abandoned shopping malls. There’s a certain feeling evoked from places that should be full of people but are now empty and decaying. Before online shopping, these were vibrant communal places, now the emptiness is amplified.

Every so often, I listen to a version of Toto’s “Africa” that has been remixed to sound like it’s playing in an empty mall. In this increasingly virtual world, it conjures up a scenario that is strangely comforting, something to hold on to when we feel like we’re losing parts of ourselves. For this piece, I wanted to re-create that feeling, to project a moment of warmth and nostalgia into the void. SHELL is about remembering these ghostly spaces in their former glory, full of life and laughter." -Emma O'Halloran

Emma O’Halloran is an Irish composer and vocalist. Freely intertwining acoustic and electronic music, O’Halloran has written for folk musicians, chamber ensembles, turntables, laptop orchestra, symphony orchestra, film, and theatre. Her work has been described as “intensely beautiful” (Washington Post) and “unencumbered, authentic, and joyful” (I Care If You Listen), and has won numerous competitions, including National Sawdust’s inaugural Hildegard competition and the Next Generation award from Beth Morrison Projects.

O’Halloran’s music aims to capture the human experience, exploring complex emotions felt at specific moments in time. This approach has found a wide audience: her work has been featured at Classical NEXT in Rotterdam, the Prototype Festival in New York, New Music Dublin Festival, Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, and MATA Festival. Additionally, her music has been performed by Crash Ensemble, Contemporaneous, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, the Refugee Orchestra Project, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, and the Irish National Symphony Orchestra, amongst others.

Along with composer Amanda Feery and in collaboration with the Irish National Concert Hall, O’Halloran founded the Creative Lab, a mentorship programme for young composers from traditionally underrepresented groups in music composition. She holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University and is currently working as a freelance composer. Current and future projects include works for F-PLUS, Friction Quartet, the Irish Youth Training Choir, and an evening-length song-cycle.