Song of the Harp Seal

A tale of climate crisis and plastic pollution, The Song of the Harp Seal (2019) by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP) was composed especially for Inversion Ensemble: Coda. It sets to music the poem Inglis commissioned by Scottish author and poet Gillean McDougall. For treble chorus and pedal or lever harp, this work tells the true story of a mother harp seal and her pup forced south of their usual Arctic range by the climate crisis. The pup ingests plastic pollution that contributes to her death near the shores of the Isle of Skye. Scottish legend mixes with modern tragedy as mermaids beckon in Gaelic to the harp pup and then speak directly to us.