Treeline

Listening to trees as living instruments of memory and place.

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What this Overlap is about

Treeline reveals individual trees as sites of listening, memory, and long attention — living presences shaped by time, place, and human proximity.

Stretching to include HST trees across Europe and the UK, the Treeline Overlap brings together sound recording, composition, and site-specific listening to treat trees not as symbols, but as collaborators — organisms whose physical structures, environments, and histories actively shape what can be heard.

Unfolding over time, Treeline builds a growing archive of sound and context, allowing each tree to be encountered as both instrument and witness — holding traces of past, present, and the conditions shaping what comes next.

How it Works

1. A tree is chosen
Treeline begins with a specific tree — selected for its ecological, cultural, or historical presence. Each tree becomes a long-term listening site rather than a one-off subject.

2. Listening over time
Using non-invasive sound recording and field listening, the tree is encountered repeatedly across seasons and conditions. Attention is placed on resonance, vibration, and ambient sound, allowing the tree and its environment to shape what is heard.

3. From listening to composition
The gathered sounds form the basis for new musical works by Graham Fitkin. Rather than illustrating the recordings, the compositions emerge from them — translating the tree’s acoustic character, rhythms, and conditions into structured musical form.

4. Performance across place
These works are performed live in a series of concerts across 20 locations in 10 countries in Europe and the UK. Each performance carries the presence of its originating tree into new cultural contexts, allowing sound gathered in one place to be experienced in many.

5. An evolving archive
Together, listening, composition, and performance form a growing Treeline archive — an ongoing body of work where trees are encountered as instruments, witnesses, and collaborators over time.

Creative Commponents

Tree listening & field recording
Each Treeline begins with sustained, site-specific listening. Sound is gathered through non-invasive recording methods that capture vibration, resonance, and the wider acoustic environment, shaped by weather, season, and human proximity.

Musical composition
Field recordings inform new compositions by Graham Fitkin. These works are not illustrative soundscapes, but structured musical responses — translating the physical and temporal qualities of each tree into rhythm, harmony, and form.

Live performance
Composed works are performed in concert settings across Europe and the UK, allowing sounds rooted in specific trees to travel and be re-experienced in diverse cultural contexts.

Long-term archive
Recordings, compositions, texts, and performance traces are gathered into a growing Treeline archive, enabling re-listening, comparison, and return — treating each tree as part of an ongoing creative relationship rather than a finished work.

Open Calls

Treeline is designed as an open, evolving project. While core listening, composition, and performance are led by the project team, each phase invites wider participation from artists, researchers, and local communities connected to the trees and places involved.

Periodic open calls invite contributions such as writing, field notes, local histories, images, or responses to specific trees or performances. These calls are published through the Treeline and HST channels and are clearly scoped to ensure meaningful, respectful engagement.

At each location, Treeline seeks dialogue with local partners — including cultural organisations, educators, ecologists, and community members — to situate each tree within its social and environmental context. Participation may take the form of conversations, guided listening, workshops, or contextual contributions.

For more information, visit the Treeline project page here.

Timeline

Phase I — Musical Compositioin

Phase I focuses on deep listening and the creation of new musical works. Selected Highly Sensitive Trees are encountered through repeated site visits and non-invasive sound recording, allowing their acoustic presence, rhythms, and environmental conditions to shape the material.

From this listening process, Graham Fitkin develops original compositions that translate the gathered sounds into structured musical form. The emphasis is not on representation, but on response — allowing each tree’s character and context to inform tempo, texture, and structure.

This phase establishes the core musical language of Treeline, forming the foundation for later performance, presentation, and public engagement across multiple locations.

Treeline Concert Series – Dates & Locations

Romania