This 9-minute, one-movement new work is inspired by the story of Ada Blackjack, a 23-year-old Iñupiat woman and the only survivor on an expedition to a remote Siberian island with four white men in 1921. Ada Blackjack was taken to work as a seamstress for the expedition. She also cooked, cleaned, hunted, and eventually nursed the dying explorer when abandoned by the others. The music describes the dangerous journey this young woman endured in the untamed Arctic. Using the coloristic combination of flute and vibraphone, the music evokes vast haunting landscape where fear, loneliness, hope, and courage intermingle into an ultimate place of depth with enormous reverberations.

This new work is written especially for the amazing duo, flutist Susan Hoeppner and percussionist Beverley Johnston, a special composition paying tribute to this young female protagonist, telling her story of incredible courage to withstand hardship surviving the brutal Arctic wilderness.