Composer
Maroon Winds
premiere by the Talis Academy & Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
flute, clarinet, and string quartet
duration: 6 minutes 30 seconds
Maroon Winds is inspired by a backpacking trip I took through the Maroon Bells in Colorado. While nearing a high pass, a storm blew in forcing us to seek shelter underneath a patch of trees. While the rain bypassed our perch, the beauty of watching a nearby storm pass over ominous-red mountains resulted in the alternation between programmatic and
contemplative musical sections. Contradiction guides much of Maroon Winds – the music explores both the progression of a storm and a sentiment trapped within a single moment, rapid ostinati rumble underneath expansive melodic lines, strings are instructed to obscure beautiful passages with harsh techniques, and the entirety swells with the storm but neglects to develop or progress.