Special Member Event: Thursday, May 1, 2025 | 3:30–5:30 pm
Public Opening: Friday, May 2, 2025
The Wild Center and the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam are teaming up for something special—a brand-new musical piece created just for our Forest Music Trail. We’re celebrating this creative collaboration with a special Member event on May 1 from 3:30–5:30 pm.
Forest Music is a quarter-mile trail on The Wild Center’s campus where nature and sound come together. As you walk through the forest, you’re surrounded by a three-dimensional soundscape that makes you feel totally immersed in the environment. This new piece was composed by four incredibly talented students from the Crane School of Music—and it brings a fresh and inspiring energy to the experience.
At the May 1 event, you’ll get to:
• Walk the Forest Music Trail and hear the new composition for the first time
• Meet the student composers who created the music
• Enjoy light refreshments and a relaxed afternoon in the woods
The event is open to Wild Center members and SUNY Potsdam students, faculty, and leadership. Whether you're into music, love spending time outside, or just want to experience something new, this is a great chance to explore how creativity and nature can come together in surprising ways.
Come celebrate this one-of-a-kind collaboration and get a first listen to the newest Forest Music composition—we’d love to see you there!
RSVP Requested
Please RSVP to rsvp@wildcenter.org or rburnell@wildcenter.org.
Public Opening – May 2
The new Forest Music composition will officially debut to the public on Friday, May 2, 2025. Explore the quarter-mile looped trail and be immersed in a three-dimensional soundscape inspired by the surrounding Adirondack forest.
About Forest Music
Forest Music is a seasonal sound installation at The Wild Center that blends the natural world with music. This new collaboration with student composers from the Crane School of Music brings a fresh, inspiring dimension to the trail.
More information available at: wildcenter.org/forestmusic
Adam Beiter (he/him/his) is a composer, musician, and teacher hailing from Hamburg, NY and a current B.M. candidate in Music Education and Composition at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music. Incorporating a wide variety of styles such as contemporary classical, folk, jazz, and musical theatre, his music seeks to uplift the unique voices of its performers and explore themes of community, identity, and resilience.
Adam began his compositional journey at a young age: at 10 years old, he was selected as a finalist in the 2014 NYSSMA Young Composers Honors Concert. He went on to write for his high school’s symphony orchestra and contributed original music for three one-act musicals with original scripts written by fifth graders at Union Pleasant Elementary School between 2018 and 2020. In 2021, he released the song cycle A Gentle Loving Kind: 14 Love Songs in a concept album format, featuring musical settings of poems written by his grandfather.
Adam is an avid proponent of collaborative experiences in composition, particularly collaborating with living poets of varied backgrounds to bring their works to life through nuanced and stylistically diverse musical settings. He has composed incidental music for religious services and live theatrical productions, and has written for chamber groups FiveByFive, the Rosetta Arts Collective, and the Bridge Music Collective. In April 2024 his piece for SATB choir and nyckelharpa, “Jag”, was premiered by Crane’s first-year choral ensemble Hosmer Choir. Adam’s original score for the award-winning Paolo Valencia film We Are the Vessels of Each Other’s Melancholies was showcased in screenings at Cinefest Fairfield and the New York Long Island Film Festival.
On his piece, “Deer Diary”
“I want people to think deeply about their impact on the area. My ultimate goal is getting people to think a little bit deeper about how this area is changed because I'm in it. How can I seek to maximize the positive impact that I'm having in this place and minimize the negative impact.”
William Codd is a 22-year-old pianist-composer who studies at SUNY Potsdam as a composition major with Dr. Timothy Sullivan. William has written many works, including a few piano concertos and sonatas, a string quartet, and a flute concerto. William hopes to teach at the collegiate level and intends to go to graduate school.
On his piece, “Awareness”
“I want to help the visitor calm their mind, calm their spirit so they can be fully immersed. I want people to walk through and experience things in the moment.”
Maria Tartaglia is a singer/composer/entertainer who studies composition and vocal performance at the Crane School of Music. Her music has been used as main themes in Podcasts (notably the SMT season 4 theme). Her performing experience ranges from rock band keyboardist to classical opera singer. Her hobbies include composing music of all different styles, performing, reading mystery novels and classics, crocheting and taking walks. She is very grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate with The Wild Center!
On her piece, “Enchanting Tranquility”
“I hope visitors go back to their childhood. I hope they think about what it’s like to be a kid and what it’s like to have a vivid imagination and have fun.”
Kellie Sakura Tang is currently a third-year student pursuing a double major in both piano performance and music composition at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York. Hailing from Long Island, New York, Kellie was interested in exploring the art of piano from a young age. An accomplished pianist, Kellie has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She has earned numerous accolades, including first prize in the New York Concert Festival International Competition, was the Gold Winner in the International Young Artist Competition, and was selected for the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) 2021 Piano Showcase. Her achievements have garnered the attention of the New York Senate.
As a composer, Kellie blends Western classical traditions with contemporary influences. Her music has been described as “charming” and “mythical” by captivated audiences. Kellie's compositions have been premiered at the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at the Crane School of Music.
On her piece, “Shisaku no Toki (試作の時)”
“When I first started working on this piece, I sat down, I closed my eyes, and I tried to imagine my first visit to The Wild Center. I remembered that there were a bunch of leaves crunching under my feet, people muttering, and trees whispering in the wind. I hope to evoke a sense of calmness, a sense of peace, a sense of soothing relaxation that people feel when they’re observing nature.”