Orchestration
string quartet

Commissioned by/Premiere
Bergamot Quartet (Ledah Fink and Sarah Jane Thomas, violins; Martine Thomas, viola; Irène Han, cello) at Salisbury Congregational Church in Salisbury, Vermont (June 7, 2025)

Program Notes
This piece was inspired by the recent death of my godmother, who was a devout Catholic. This event left me with conflicted emotions. On the one hand, I'd like to think that she would be happy in the afterlife. However, I was also upset because I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her before she died. The tension between these feelings is the conceptual and musical core of this piece. Different string techniques and styles of playing are divided as to represent the two contrasting ideas. After being featured separately, these attributes are deployed in direct contrast with each other throughout the rest of the composition.

Additional Notes
Brian Riordan is the audio engineer for the recording on this page.