Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
How do you create music inspired by the beauty of Zion National Park? That's just what composer and conductor Sam Wu set out to do during his February 2026 residency!
@SamWuMusic 's music "abounds in delicate colours, wisps of sound and sylvan textures" (Gramophone). Many of his works center around extra-musical themes: architecture and urban planning, climate science, and the search for exoplanets that harbor life.
During his residency at Zion National Park, Sam has begun composing a substantial work for solo piano in response to the landscapes around him. In particular, he is interested in evoking the vastness of geologic time through sound–how to suggest space, timescale, and grandeur magnitudes larger than what humans can imagine. Commissioned by award-winning pianist James Palmer, Sam's new work will receive its world premiere in Houston, TX later this year.
Learn more about the park's Artist-in-Residence program at nps.gov/zion/getinvolved/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence.htm
How do you create music inspired by the beauty of Zion National Park? That's just what composer and conductor Sam Wu set out to do during his February 2026 residency!
@SamWuMusic 's music "abounds in delicate colours, wisps of sound and sylvan textures" (Gramophone). Many of his works center around extra-musical themes: architecture and urban planning, climate science, and the search for exoplanets that harbor life.
During his residency at Zion National Park, Sam has begun composing a substantial work for solo piano in response to the landscapes around him. In particular, he is interested in evoking the vastness of geologic time through sound–how to suggest space, timescale, and grandeur magnitudes larger than what humans can imagine. Commissioned by award-winning pianist James Palmer, Sam's new work will receive its world premiere in Houston, TX later this year.
Learn more about the park's Artist-in-Residence program at nps.gov/zion/getinvolved/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence.htm
