BEYOND THE GATE.
Opus. 07
Instrumentation: String Orchestra
Duration: 7 Minutes, One Movement
Commissioned by: JVL Music in Summer Festival
PROGRAM NOTE.
This piece was commissioned by the JVL Music in Summer Festival of 2011. The music and the poem came to me at the same time, inspired by nature walks that I took with children I was teaching in my Fresh Air and Fairies summer art day camps (my summer job during college). Every morning we would begin the day by walking down the stone steps from my house that led to an old metal gate. As soon as we walked through the gate, we were able to bear witness to the beauty of the nature beyond. Many magical moments, courtesy of emerald-winged dragonflies landing on the children's hands, black raspberry bushes in full bloom, and willow trees that made the perfect art-camp fairy bower, ensued. After the first Stanza, each stanza corresponds to a movement of the piece.
The hosta garden is alive
jump the bugs and humming bees
swarm the broad-leafed hubs
and spring from emerald plant to plant
frantically flinging their crunchy bodies
in all their speed they can't live long...
And the fountains, aqua blue
flow up in a solid, powerful stroke
and arc, hanging just barely in the air
their fluid bodies beginning to sparkle,
then the waters, rushing earthwards
splash down upon their rock-basins
diving down to rejoin the depths
Beyond the gate
the open land speaks in greens
beckoning to the firefly grove
where sapphire shimmers on gossamer wings
dance in lightness, stand stoic in shadows
The mirror pond is calm and still
no etchings mar its surface-glass
Yet there is movement beneath the depths,
beyond the gate, a murmuring
above the mirror, nothing can be seen,
not the ripples, carried almost to the circle-surface
only to fall deep, float back down
the mirror pond shines,
calm and still
Details // Concert Prep
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commissioner biography.
The JVL Music in Summer Festival/Summer School for Performing Arts invites young and aspiring musicians to participate in the unique course of the Summer School. The course offers its participants a wonderful opportunity to combine their intensive and highly professional music studies under the tutelage of a distinguished faculty and concert performances with recreational activities. The JVL Summer School for Performing Arts committed to the artistic development of young musicians of all ages. The program of the School includes instrumental private lessons, master classes and workshops, chamber music classes, orchestral and ensemble classes, concert performances, solo performances with the SSPA/Academy orchestras, as well as special seminars on ear training and theory of music. JVL SSPA’s remarkable faculty — gifted and creative master teachers and musicians dedicated to the fine art of teaching, supports all of this musical activity.