PROGRAM NOTE

The refugee crisis in Europe, documented in recent media by horrific stories and photos of displaced families, led me to compose Home.

The work begins in what is essentially C Major, or with a tonal center of “C”, which I intended as a sonic representation of "home” and one which is abandoned after the idyllic atmosphere of the work’s first several minutes in search of new and unfamiliar harmonic terrain. As is my way, I worked through the piece in a linear fashion, never certain what lay around each corner. My only hope was that I would find my way back to the musical idea heard at the opening, and that it would present itself in a way that suggested this material (or one’s perception of it) had been altered in some way by the journey the work represents.

I am grateful to Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival and to all co-commissioners for their support of this work. Home is the third work of mine written for the Miró Quartet, and it is dedicated to them with admiration and affection.

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