For composer Gabriella Smith, ‘Lost Coast’ takes on a spiritual meaning

In 2014, composer Gabriella Smith, a native Californian, hiked the state’s Lost Coast trail. It unwinds along a remote section of the coastline that’s so rugged and riddled with cliffs that the Pacific Coast Highway had to be diverted inland for more than 100 miles. The hike inspired Smith to compose a series of pieces for cello and electronics, written for her longtime collaborator, cellist Gabriel Cabezas. 

Eventually, the pieces evolved into Lost Coast, which received its premiere by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in May 2023. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Esa-Pekka Salonen, will perform the work with Gabriel Cabezas as soloist in concerts Feb. 5-7.

Smith has always been inspired by nature; when she was just 12 years old, she spent time volunteering for a bird-banding station in Point Reyes, California. As a child, she also was a talented and dedicated violinist and composer, though her love of the environment and passion for music didn’t intersect until she left California to study composition at Curtis Music Institute, the elite conservatory in Philadelphia.

Overcome with homesickness and newly expected to present and speak about her compositions, she started writing music about the topics she preferred to discuss: Pacific coastal landscapes, birds and natural sounds. This was an artistic breakthrough and helped her find her musical voice.

In a program note, Smith reflects on the personal journey that led her to compose Lost Coast.

"Lost Coast is inspired by a five-day solo back-packing trip I took on the Lost Coast Trail, a surprisingly remote section of northern California coastline. It’s a wild and dramatic landscape of jagged precipices and stomach-turning drops overlooking ferocious, pounding surf. The Pacific Coast Highway had to be diverted 100 miles inland because the land was too rugged to build on. Trail conditions were dubious, with washouts and sections so overgrown I had to fight my way through the coastal scrub. Some sections were so steep I had to grab hold of the coyote bush to pull myself up short slopes. In five days, I encountered only two other people on the trail.

"With the climate crisis becoming an increasing part of our daily lives and little to no progress slowing the emissions of greenhouse gasses, the title Lost Coast has taken on a secondary meaning for me. The piece is a raw emotional expression of the grief, loss, rage and fear experienced as a result of climate change — as well as the joy, beauty and wonder I have felt in the world’s last wild places, and the joy and hope in getting to work on climate solutions."