Vanishing Whispers

Soprano and piano

When I wrote Vanishing Whispers, I was thinking about the power of lists. A list can seem innocuous—just a collection of names—but what we choose to include can reveal what we value. In this case, the list that inspired the piece is one of endangered species, and I found it difficult not to hear in it the consequences of centuries of colonialism, exploitation, and our relentless pursuit of human progress.

Each animal is represented by a few words: an image, a characteristic, a colloquialism, or a fragment of a story. Some are familiar; others are almost unknown to us. The saola, for example, was unknown to Western science until 1992 and is now thought to number fewer than 100 individuals. The vaquita, found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California, is in an even more precarious position: a 2025 survey estimated that perhaps only seven to ten remain.

What I find heartbreaking is that these are not simply animals that happen to be disappearing. We have driven them toward extinction in the name of progress—a word that too often means our convenience, consumption, wealth, technology, and expansion. In other words, our selfishness. Forests are cleared, rivers altered, oceans overfished, minerals extracted, and habitats fragmented, while creatures who have occupied these places far longer than we have are left with nowhere to go.

The list therefore becomes more than a catalog. It’s a record of absence in the making: a roll call of lives we are erasing. This song asks us to linger over their names—to imagine these remarkable creatures not as statistics, but as fellow inhabitants of this world whose disappearance diminishes us all.

Vanishing Whispers was commissioned by Melissa Holm-Johansen for her performance with pianist Carson Rose Schneider at the 2024 Minneapolis SongSlam (where it took fourth place).

The Text

By the composer, based on a list published by the World Wildlife Fund

Hawksbill Turtle; ancient mariner; guardian of the reefs in nearly every ocean.

Amur Leopard; the wild spirit of Siberian forests; fading from the frozen east.

Saola; mystical presence; a living myth of Vietnam’s shrouded highlands.

Western Lowland Gorilla; gentle giant; monarch of the Congo’s dense undergrowth.
Eastern Lowland Gorilla; tranquil clans of kindred souls; home torn for minerals serving technology’s bright lights.
Cross River Gorilla; sacred guardian of Cameroon’s forests; just 25 souls remain.

Sumatran Rhino; a voice that carries, deep and strong; weaver of tales with verdant strands.[1]
Sumatran Tiger; apex predator; stripéd symbol of wilderness and majesty.
Sumatran Elephant; cultural icon of might; colossal nomad of the shrinking wilderness.
Sumatran Orangutan; arboreal heart of the island; facing the twilight of its realm.
Bornean Orangutan; the wise old one of the jungle; contemplating the vanishing tropics.

Tapanuli Orangutan; philosopher kin; elder of the forested realms.

African forest elephant; sovereign of the silent grove; icon of ancestral memory.

Vaquita; fragile wraith of the gulf; entangled in nets not meant for them.

Yangtze Finless Porpoise; the joyful “river piglet”; casualty of the currents of humanity’s progress.

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[1] In reference to how the Sumatran Rhino is the most vocal of all rhinoceros species as well as its practice of communicating by twisting tree saplings into patterns.

Performed by Melissa Holm-Johansen (soprano) and Carson Rose Schneider (piano).