The Cascades - LA Aqueduct | Live in Sofia, Bulgaria | Colin Sprigg

THE CASCADES Music by Colin Sprigg Orchestration by Colin Sprigg, and Norman Ludwin Conductor - Evan Harger Performed by The Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, July 2026 Sofia Art and Music Festival Bulgaria Hall Sofia, Bulgaria My vision for The Cascades is simple: I would love for the Los Angeles Philharmonic to invite me as a composer to perform this work for the people of Los Angeles. And why not? I believe the music is great, but more importantly, this is our story. It is a story about Los Angeles—about the remarkable undertaking that helped make the modern city possible, about the people who built it, and about the water that millions of us continue to share today. Music has a wonderful ability to bring people together while giving us a way to experience our history beyond names and dates. The Cascades was written with that idea in mind. This music of Los Angeles history unfolds symphonically: the vision, the excitement, the immense landscape, the years of difficult work, and finally the arrival of water in Los Angeles. I can imagine few things more meaningful than hearing this story performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the city whose history inspired it. The Cascades is a symphonic journey through the creation of the Los Angeles Aqueduct—one of the most ambitious engineering projects in the history of the American West. Completed in 1913 under the leadership of Los Angeles engineer William Mulholland, the aqueduct carried water more than 200 miles from the Eastern Sierra and Owens Valley to Los Angeles. Its arrival transformed the future of the city and made possible much of the extraordinary growth that followed. The Cascades unfolds through a series of short, connected musical passages. Each represents a different moment in the aqueduct's journey—from the original vision, through years of difficult construction, to the extraordinary moment when water finally arrived in Los Angeles. A — The Vision The work begins with the principal Aqueduct Theme: optimistic, expansive and heroic. It represents the extraordinary vision of bringing water across mountains and desert to a rapidly growing Los Angeles. At this point, the aqueduct exists primarily as an idea—a seemingly impossible project accompanied by enormous optimism about the city's future. B — The Project Begins The vision becomes reality. Los Angeles has committed itself to building the aqueduct, and thousands of people are about to embark upon an enormous undertaking. The music carries a feeling of anticipation, confidence and forward momentum as preparations give way to construction. C — Into the Landscape The project moves into the vast landscape of the Eastern Sierra, Owens Valley, mountains and desert. The music retains a sense of excitement and wonder, but subtle changes begin to suggest that the journey ahead will not be easy. The scale of the landscape—and of the task confronting the builders—begins to reveal itself. D — The Difficult Years The optimism of the opening sections gives way to the physical reality of construction. For years, thousands of workers labored across difficult and often isolated terrain, constructing tunnels, canals, pipelines and enormous siphons. This passage becomes heavier, more rhythmic and more forceful, evoking machinery, repetitive labor, determination and the sheer physical effort required to move water across more than 200 miles of California. E — Completion After years of work, the aqueduct is essentially complete. Rather than immediately presenting this moment as a grand public celebration, the music becomes more reflective. This passage represents a quieter sense of accomplishment—the private realization by Mulholland, the engineers and thousands of workers that they had actually completed something many believed could never be done. The water was coming to Los Angeles. F — The Cascades — November 5, 1913 The final passage brings the story to the place that gives the composition its name. On November 5, 1913, thousands gathered in the San Fernando Valley to witness the arrival of Owens Valley water. The gates were opened, and the water rushed dramatically down the Cascades on the final stage of its journey toward Los Angeles. Here, the Aqueduct Theme first heard at the beginning of the composition returns—now transformed into a full orchestral celebration. The idea introduced at the opening has become reality. Vision → Anticipation → Journey → Struggle → Accomplishment → Triumph The Cascades is ultimately not simply music about an aqueduct. It is music about an extraordinary human undertaking: imagining something on an almost impossible scale, crossing an immense landscape, enduring years of difficult work, and finally witnessing the moment when that vision became real. And perhaps someday, that story will be heard in Los Angeles, performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the people whose city—and whose shared history—inspired the music. Colin Sprigg, Composer