Beringia

Beringia had its first performance on 1 August 2023 at the Tonal Composers Festival in Brasília, played by the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Cláudio Santoro. Ben Johnston-Urey scored it for double woodwind with English horn, four horns, full brass, harp, percussion and strings, and it runs just under ten minutes. Its subject is the land bridge across the Bering Strait and the people who crossed it: the composer describes a journey holding together longing and remembrance on one side and the exhilaration of discovery on the other.