Prayers for a Feverish Planet

Our Masterpiece Destroyed! (2020) – Salam Murtada (Jordan/United States)

During his speech at the 2014 Minnesota Water Resources Conference, Paul Douglas, a famous meteorologist, made a very interesting analogy about climate change. He compared climate change to a symphony orchestra during a performance, where every instrument would gradually fall out of harmony, ultimately succumbing to random noise and utter chaos.

This composition, or decomposition rather, is based on the same concept where a masterpiece written by J.S. Bach (Prelude in C, BWV 846, The Well-Tempered Clavier) is being gradually destroyed and transformed into an unrecognizable chaotic entity.

Ann adds: Salam has cleverly written “de-composed by Salam Murtada” on the score. 2022, when this piece received its premiere, was coincidentally the 300th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of the Well-Tempered Clavier. 

Salam Murtada performing at College Music Society International Conference, Tallinn, Estonia, July 2023

Salam Murtada was born and raised in Amman, Jordan.

He writes, “My mother was my first music teacher; she studied piano at the Beirut Conservatory of Music. I was fortunate to be a semi-finalist in the Fourth Van Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in 2004, a semi-finalist in the Washington International Piano Artist Competition in 2006, a winner in the Masters Concerto and Aria Competition (MCAC; Minneapolis) in 2019 and a prize winner in the Music Academy of North Carolina National Piano Competition in 2000. My piano instructors have included John Ruggero (Raleigh, North Carolina), Christine Kefferstan (West Virginia University), Lita Guerra (University of Texas at Austin), and Samia Abu-Khader Ghannoum (Amman, Jordan). I have also coached with Walter Hautzig and Vanessa Cornett-Murtada. 

My compositional style explores the intersection of contemporary musical idioms and traditional Arabic culture. My works have been premiered in the USA, Australia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Jordan.

I am a civil and environmental engineer currently working as a hydrologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.”