Currently...

Sleep should come a little more easily this week, since the draft of my new orchestra work, Tides, is  complete!  Now for a couple of weeks' work of editing and copying orchestra parts... and the excitement of planning a trip to go hear the world premiere this spring!  A premiere announcement will be coming soon...

Tides

for full orchestra 
(programme notes)

"But the sea, the sea in darkness calls; 

The little waves, with their soft white hands 

Efface the footprints in the sands, 

And the tide rises, the tide falls."  

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tides was conceived after visiting Albania and Macedonia on tour, as a member of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, in summer 2012.  The rugged beauty and colourful spirit of the Balkans fascinated me.  This piece grew out of contemplating the continuity of time, and also the idea of an ancient land, where tides (both literal and metaphorical) have been changing and shaping its unique character for centuries.  Precise, dancing rhythms inspired by Balkan folk music permeate the piece, contrasted with a fluid sense of motion and freedom.

Along the beach at Sarande, Albania- July 2012
(photo- Elizabeth Knudson)