Wichita native Alex Wakim brings ‘Dust and Ions’ to Wichita Symphony Orchestra
Alex Wakim created “Dust and Ions” during the pandemic, when the New York-based composer returned to his Wichita roots for some centering and contemplation.
“It’s kind of my response to this rediscovery of the stars — like during when I was spending more time in Kansas because of the pandemic, I left New York for several months and just got to kind of reconnect with these, just with the world around,” he recalled. “I feel like we’re always kind of down on our phones and this felt like a strange, forced relief.”
After a successful hometown performance at the Wichita Center for the Performing Arts in September 2021, he has reimagined and expanded the piece for a work that the Wichita Symphony Orchestra will perform next weekend.
“The whole time I wanted to find a way to make the impact of the music really magnificent and I think orchestra became sort of the natural, best way to really make you feel music,” Wakim said.
After submitting the piece to the Wichita symphony for possible inclusion, Wakim received an email from conductor-musical director Daniel Hege that it would be a part of the 2024-25 season.
A graduate of New York University with a degree in film music, Wakim had worked on orchestrations of this size before.
But he was focused on every detail in sending the score to his hometown orchestra.
With “Dust and Ions,” he had to condense what was a 90-minute piece down to about 16 or 17.
“Yeah, it’s compressing, but then it’s making sure that is an incredible impact,” he said.
“Dust and Ions” will open next Sunday’s concert, which also includes Mozart’s “Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major,” featuring Jeb Wallace, and Brahms’ “Piano Quartet in G minor.”
Wakim, 28, who will be back in Wichita for rehearsals and the symphony performance, said he hopes the piece has more life after the curtain goes down for the concert.
“I think we’d really like to continue performing this and continue seeing different ways that we can give symphony programming something unique and special because, I mean, this piece is so evocative,” he said.
He hopes the Wichita performance, and others that may perform “Dust and Ions,” will bring in lighting and video effects to emulate a nighttime sky.
“This idea that you’re outside under the stars, I think symphonies could really benefit from that,” he said.
Wakim’s work as a film composer continues to flourish, with movies using his music scheduled for showings at Tribeca and South by Southwest film festivals this year.
“It’s really nice to just start to get, start to penetrate a little bit higher sort of rungs of film,” he said. “I think film is a nice thing to be rooted in. But then my artist projects, too, are also growing.”
Before the end of the year, Wakim also hopes to release an album of new, non-film music. One of his pieces was being recorded by an orchestra in Budapest earlier this month, although he could only observe online.
Getting film work, he said, is a combination of him finding the filmmakers or the filmmakers finding him.
“I need to be knocking on doors just like when I’m at a film festival and I see films of similar things I’ve worked on or directors that I think I’d have a good sort of connection with,” he said.
Wakim met one of his film music idols, Carter Burwell (a frequent collaborator with the Coen Brothers) who came to one of Wakim’s film’s screenings because he was friends with a member of the cast.
“He was saying that you get to a point where your past work brings in everything, but I think we’re getting closer to the place where my current work do all the speaking for me,” he said.
WICHITA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23
Where: Century II concert hall,
Tickets: $10-$85, from wichitasymphony.org, the symphony box office or at 316-267-7658