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Susan Campos—Fonseca:
La punta donde descansan los árboles
Release: May 01, 2026
Irreverence Group Music [IGM] presents La punta donde descansan los árboles, marking its world premiere with orchestra. Written by composer Susan Campos-Fonseca and developed in collaboration with violist Manuel Loaiza, the work unfolds at the intersection of electroacoustic practice and symphonic form. Premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Costa Rica (OSUCR) under the direction of Alejandro Gutiérrez-Mena, the piece extends Campos-Fonseca’s ongoing exploration of memory, territory, and the resonant body in relation to climate and historical consciousness.
Listen to La punta donde descansan los árboles
La punta donde descansan los árboles
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Format: Single
Release: May 01, 2026
Catalogue: IGML-012
GTIN/EAN/UPC: 4068992709284
Producer: IGM
Commissioned by Manuel Loaiza -
Manuel Loaiza (electroacoustic viola)
Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Costa Rica (OSUCR)
Alejandro Gutiérrez-Mena, conductor -
Susan Campos—Fonseca
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Campos—Fonseca — La punta donde descansan los árboles
01. La punta donde descansan los árboles
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Commissioned by Manuel Loaiza
Produced by Irreverence Group Music
Music by Susan Campos—FonsecaManuel Loaiza (electroacoustic viola)
Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Costa Rica (OSUCR)
Alejandro Gutiérrez-Mena, conductorLive recording, world premiere March 26, 2026
Aula Magna, University of Costa RicaRecorded & mixed
by Felipe Fernández at Cyancoco Studio
Mastered by Julián De La Chica
at IGMLab Music, Brooklyn, NYAlbum Notes by Susan Campos—Fonseca
Artwork/Cover: Photography by Susan Campos—Fonseca
Ⓟ & © IGM 2026
Composer's NOTES
La punta donde descansan los árboles
By Susan Campos-Fonseca
La punta donde descansan los árboles for electroacoustic viola and orchestra emerges from a question: how can artistic research in musical composition engage with, and contribute to, the struggle for climate justice?
The answer was found in the southern Caribbean of Costa Rica, and in a word that preserves the memory of the resilience of the ocean, the land, and those who know how to live in harmony with nature. That word is Kawe-Ta, which in the Bribri language means: the tip of the tree that bleeds—Cahuita.
Within that word also reside the remnants of the ships used to traffic human beings torn from their land and enslaved—African people who refused to relinquish their cultural memory and dignity.
Today, Cahuita loses more than two centimeters of coastline each year due to the climate crisis and our insatiable greed… this music brings that loss into presence.
We call upon Yemayá. Bring justice.
Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Costa Rica (OSUCR),
Alejandro Gutiérrez-Mena (conductor), and Manuel Loaiza (violist),
Premiere March 26, 2026.
©Ricardo Cambronero
About the author
Susan Campos—Fonseca
Photography: self-portrait
Campos—Fonseca is Associate Professor at the University of Costa Rica (UCR). She holds a PhD in Music and a Master’s degree in Spanish and Ibero-American Thought from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Music Conducting (Orchestra and Band) from UCR. A teacher and researcher specializing in musicology, sonic studies, and the philosophy of culture and technology, her creative practice as an improviser-composer and multi-instrumentalist spans electroacoustic music, instrumental musique concrète, spectralism, and post-minimalism.
Performer’s statement
To confront La punta donde descansan los árboles as a soloist was not simply to take on a score, but to enter a territory where music ceases to obey and begins to reveal itself. Susan Campos-Fonseca’s work demands more than precision—it calls for an almost ritual surrender, a willingness to relinquish the certainties of the traditional performer.
Each sonic gesture seemed to emerge from a place prior to thought, as if the body were remembering something it had never learned. There were moments of extreme tension, where the challenge lay not in execution, but in sustaining clarity within a language that constantly eludes grasp. And yet, within that discomfort resides a form of beauty—severe, almost cruel—offering no immediate gratification, yet transforming those who dare to pass through it.
I left the experience changed, more aware of my limits, but also of the vastness that opens when one chooses to cross them.
Manuel Loaiza, electroacoustic viola
