May we be transformed in this way

In 2023, during a trip to Europe, Canadian composer Corie Rose Soumah found solace in a novel by an Austrian author: Marlen Haushofer’s *Die Wand* moved Soumah so deeply that she was able to surrender to her grief and, precisely in that, found comfort and the capacity for change and growth. Inspired by these existential experiences, she composed her string quartet *We, To Be So Transformed*, which is paired with a commissioned work for the PHACE Ensemble. The other four short pieces of the evening are by Zara Ali. The composition *Red City* lets samples from the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart shimmer through the space in a three-dimensional sonic aesthetic. In *thermo_doxa*, Ali explores the connection between heat and dogma—or, more precisely, dogmatic religions from hot climates. The chamber music piece *Passing Fragrance, Hidden Veil* is inspired by a painting by the Pakistani artist Abdur Rahman Chugthai, while in *Circular Scrape*, the sounds of a spinning coin await their own digital transformation.