Everything changed on 7 January 2025, for violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and her fellow-Los Angelinos. The Palisades fires uprooted lives and legacies. Yet rising from the ashes, both literal and figural, is a beautiful work Anne commissioned from Eric Whitacre, The Pacific Has No Memory.

Los Angeles was home to Eric Whitacre for 25 years. As fate would have it, he was flying into the city on 8 January 2025 for a visit, only to witness the smudgy black smoke over the skies and homes and histories being destroyed. Yet from the ash and destruction, something beautiful emerged. Anne had already commissioned Eric Whitacre to write a new work for violin and orchestra, and as the world changed, so did his composition. The Pacific Has No Memory was born from those epic tragedies. The music is tender and profound, radiating love, hope and renewal. The piece takes its title from a line in the film The Shawshank Redemption, when the character Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) dreams of a life near the ocean where his past is a memory, a place where the blue of the Pacific Ocean will give him a chance to start anew. Anne, backed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, dedicates this recording to all who were affected by the Los Angeles fires, and to the brave first responders who risked everything to save lives.