Program Note

The inspiration for this work came from a period in isolation when I was left to my own devices during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, where families became subjugated to unimaginable hardships and losses of many kinds while what we had known to be everyday-life suddenly ceased to exist in a spontaneous fashion. As the socioeconomic and financial stressors agitated by the pandemic’s prolongation left many in states of unforeseen struggle, I felt almost undeserving to continue my undergraduate studies via online-learning whilst also maintaining relatively good health within my close friends and family. This being said the devastation of the pandemic’s wake was still felt strongly throughout the entire globe, and it soon became a driving force in my own creative thoughts and music composition.

The University of Texas at San Antonio’s first ever Interdisciplinary Project was inspired by this very shift in the world’s psyche; each area of study was to promote a collaborative online sharing platform where students could reflect and post their thoughts on the impact of 2020 through a variety of creative mediums found within their individual field of study. This encouraged an overwhelming response from each student as they became fully aware of the collegiate activities happening outside of their very own, and I was extremely grateful for this university-wide project as I was one of these students to achieve such mass student-led collaboration. I was ecstatic to continue in this educational opportunity as I delegated my creative efforts to the poem The Burning written by English students Moises Hernandez and Robert Cano, where I gave the text a musical depiction through the creation of sounds and gestures inspired by the subject matter and its underlying themes. I challenged myself by the use of only one violin and violincello to achieve this vision, as it deemed fitting to pair such sparse instrumentation to the visceral themes of isolation and fear found within the poem. This provided a need to step outside of my usual creative writing scheme and demand a more sophisticated approach to musical composition, requiring the usage of modern techniques to conceive an accurate portrayal of the many abstract and emotional ideas presented by the student writers. This accomplishment was met by an exploratory manipulation of timbre and controlled counterpoint exhibited within the confines of a two-voice harmonic structure, to which I was thankfully able to elevate the refinment of my compositional voice for in regards to the overall integrity and success of this original composition.

Through modern techniques and controlled two-voiced contrapuntal harmony, I created a compelling retelling of my cohorts’ writings. This Interdisciplinary Project produced a substantial work, and I am very proud to have collaborated alongside an amazing set of peers in the premiere of this original composition.