Article Contributed by Sacks and Company
Published on 2026-06-13
Art of Elan and Phenotypic Recordings today unveil Mason Bates’ “Life of Birds: 4. On a Wire: Mating Dance” — listen/share HERE. The track marks the first release from Visions & Dreams Volume 2, out July 10 via Phenotypic Recordings — presave/preorder HERE. The collection’s first installment, Visions & Dreams Volume 1, will arrive digitally on June 26 — presave/preorder HERE.
“On a Wire: Mating Dance” unfolds as a delicate, rhythmically unsteady courtship, with two woodwind voices weaving a persistent love song above an off-kilter accompaniment. The movement is part of Bates’ Life of Birds, a suite of miniatures in which each movement traces a distinct avian narrative through clarity of line, textural lightness, and precise instrumental character. The track is performed by Rose Lombardo, flute, Max Opferkuch, clarinet, Kate Hatmaker, violin, and Alex Greenbaum, cello.
The single previews the second volume of Visions & Dreams, a two-album release marking Art of Elan’s organization's 20-year retrospective. For nearly two decades, the organization has reimagined what chamber music can be: not confined to the concert hall, but alive within galleries, museums and shared civic spaces — places where sound becomes part of a larger cultural conversation. Since its founding in 2007, the San Diego-based arts organization has cultivated a musical language rooted in collaboration, connection and community, championing the voices of living composers and the stories they carry. Visions & Dreams is not a catalog of the past, but a living document of relationships: between composers and performers, between audiences and spaces, between imagination and sound.
“Our shared humanity is at the heart of everything we do,” said Executive and Artistic Director Kate Hatmaker. “What I also hope the album can do is remind people to stay curious — about each other, about other cultures, about who we are as a civilization and what we are capable of.”
The works gathered across both volumes span a wide emotional and stylistic terrain, yet are united by a common thread: each piece reflects an act of imagination made tangible through sound. Together, they form a mosaic of voices — playful, searching, contemplative and bold — that define the evolving identity of Art of Elan. Each disc unfolds as a continuous, immersive experience, inviting what Hatmaker calls “intentional listening…not just these fleeting encounters.”
Visions & Dreams Volume 2 turns toward reflection, memory, landscape and the passage of time. Life of Birds opens the album with miniature forms that become windows into fleeting narratives, each movement a study in motion, fragility and survival. Juhi Bansal's Trail of Stars unfolds with spaciousness and reflection, its gradual transformation mirroring the slow arcs of light across the night sky. Gabriela Ortiz's Exilios gives voice to displacement and remembrance, carrying both the weight of history and the resilience of those who endure it. Jessie Montgomery's Peace offers a fragile equilibrium between sorrow and acceptance, while Michi Wiancko's Island in the Sky evokes vast geological time and human movement through landscape. Aftab Darvishi's Daughters of Sol is a mysterious meditation on change, continuity and return. The album closes with Kian Ravaei's Family Photos, a collection of musical snapshots suggesting that memory itself is a form of composition: fragments assembled into meaning, shaped by time and perspective.
“On a Wire: Mating Dance” follows the collection’s first single, “Shiner” by Sarah Kirkland Snider, from Visions & Dreams Volume 1, which landed in May. Together the two singles embody the album's broader ethos: that contrast and unexpected combinations of voices can open entirely new expressive worlds, and that living composers are pushing at the boundaries of what chamber music can be and where it can take its listeners.
Visions & Dreams brings together composers and performers, many of whom are longtime collaborators — artists whose roles as creators and interpreters often overlap, fostering a shared artistic language. As Hatmaker notes, the album embodies “an authentic expression of our values…inclusivity and building community.”
About Art of Elan:
Known for its collaborative spirit, Art of Elan has been pioneering unique events in Southern California and building community through music since 2007. Its commitment to commissioning new work, presenting multidisciplinary performances, and collaborating with world-class artists and composers has led to innovative partnerships and bi-national initiatives that have cultivated curious audiences on both sides of the border. By drawing inspiration from the word élan, which represents momentum, style, and spirit, Art of Elan continues to engage and energize audiences in new ways. For more information, visit artofelan.org.
About Phenotypic Recordings:
Phenotypic Recordings brings to light new music by world-class musicians and innovative composers, with a focus on music that highlights the most important issues facing the world today. Artists include Kronos Quartet, Osvaldo Golijov, Kenji Bunch, MoVE, Modern Violin Ensemble, W4RP and more. As another way of amplifying artistic voices, Phenotypic Recordings donates revenue from streaming and downloads to support humanitarian causes identified by the artists making the music. For more information on the label and artists, visit phenotypicrecordings.com.
