Humans on Earth

There are many ways to communicate important messages. In the sciences we are used to words, data and images. Yet the arts are also powerful communicators. An example directly relevant to IEF occurred on 29 October 2025 in Rhode Island, USA.

The University of Rhode Island Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Luis Viquez, performed the world premier of a composition "Humans on Earth - A Ballad of our Time" by IEF General Secretary Christine Muller, whose original training is in music even if she has become expert in climate change education and other environmental topics and keeps IEF functioning.

Humans on Earth – a Ballad of Our Time

"Humans on Earth - a Ballad of Our Time” is for soprano, baritone, string orchestra, piano, harp, and percussion. The two singers first lament about the big problems of our time – climate change, biodiversity loss, social inequality and human suffering. This reflects the unraveling of natural systems and of the human social order. In the second part of the piece, the tone is getting more hopeful with the vision of a united humanity.

The lyrics contain quotations from scientific sources and from Baha'i texts connected with words spontaneously written while composing the music.

The music begins with sounds of nature, foot stomping (human footprint), and contains parts that musically describe waves/storms/flooding and the loss of insects. The section with plucked strings introduces the theme of the “wicked problem”. Climate change is often portrayed as a wicked problem because of its enormous complexity.

The singers deplore human suffering caused by the impacts of climate change. The themes gradually come together and build on each other to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all things. Toward the end, when the soprano sings “The welfare of any segment of society is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole” (Universal House of Justice), all the different musical themes previously introduced are coming together. This concludes in a musical springtime: "We are one" and "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."

While mostly written in the classical Romantic style, the music contains impressionist sections, and once completely leaves the tonal system culminating in a loud 12-tone crash that portrays the collapse of ecosystems and human order.

This amazing work was warmly received by the audience and deserves to be shared more widely.

The concert livestream was recorded and is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r50k-yLIQR0
A short explanation by Christine Muller is at 1:01:30 to 1:04:05
The piece is from 1:05:30 to 1:18:15, with the music itself 1:06:10 to 1:17:30

Also included in the concert and recording is music of Dimitri Shostakovich, Richard Rodgers, Edvard Grieg and the rarely heard "Konzertstück for Piano and Orchestra" by German wunderkind composer Carl Filtsch (1830-1845).