• concerto for solo electric guitar, Niibori orchestra (concept and acoustic music by R Casteels) and electro-acoustic sounds (by Pete Kellock)

• Duration: 16' 30"
• In 1 movement
• Composed in 2014
• Commissioned by the Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore
• First performance: 16.03.14 GENUS, conducted by R Casteels, soloist Gerry Beauregard Conservatory Concert Hall of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore
• ISMN 979-0-9016519-4-4
• Parts: To rent the parts, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Downloadable scores for inspection:
  Semisopochnoi_Full_score.pdf

Alaska's Aleutian islands are like a string of pearls in the Bering sea, tenuously joining continents.  At the western end of the Aleutians is Семисопочный, Semisopochnoi, a tiny island, uninhabited, rarely visited, and over 250 km from the nearest cell phone coverage. Shaped over the aeons by volcanic activity and forces of erosion, Semisopochnoi's seemingly barren landscape  is home to millions of birds and a few arctic foxes. As environmental anarchist Edward Abbey noted Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. We all need a Semisopochnoi to escape to, if only in our minds.