Heavens, Awaken (2019)

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For Violin, Viola, and Piano

Duration: 6'30"

For score and parts, please email

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Program Notes: When considering how to write for a trio of violin, viola and piano, I was drawn to the viola, an instrument that I’ve long adored. The sound of the viola’s open strings immediately became a starting point for this piece and as I began to conceive the sound it would steer me towards, other ideas and imagery began to populate my imagination.

The open fifths became a perfect opportunity for me to draw on my past obsession with metal music as they began to invoke one another in the early stages of writing. I wrote a short, and admittedly amateurish poem about the waking of ancient unnamed deities and allowed that to become the driving impetuous to my imagination. And so, Heavens, Awaken is the sound of an immortal alarm clock. The snooze button is hit again and again, but mankind continues to beckon for help, until…

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Premiered by Sonic Apricity and Clare Longendyke, Piano; Alba Music Festival, Beppe Fenoglio Concert Hall, Alba, Italy

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