Parade

Work Overview

Instrumentation: 2(2nd double picc) 2(2nd double EH) 2(2nd Bs Cl only) 2; 221; timp + 2 percussion; harp; strings
11 minutes
Commission: ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra)
Premiere: ROCO on April 29, 2023 in Houston, TX

Program Note

Parade is a celebration of community, but also explores the journey from solitude to togetherness. Like so many others, I was feeling quite isolated from human contact during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, I had the opportunity in 2022 to attend the San Francisco Lunar New Year parade as my then 6-year-old son was marching as part of a group of students representing his school in the parade. I was deeply moved by the festivities as masses of people came together to celebrate the occasion, and I wanted to express conflicting feelings of chaos and melancholy, at the same time as empathy and gratitude, in this new orchestral work.

The work starts softly in a dream-like state and slowly quotes the first line from a Hildegard von Bingen chant, “O Ignee Spiritus” (O Fiery Spirit, Praise to You). Just as the dream-like state reaches a climax, the parade begins and has an Ives-ian chaos to it, as different groups enter, playing the same music but out of time with one another (the tune alludes to a Chinese military song). The scene transitions to a more raucous, dance-inspired affair. As the dance disappears, the dream-like state returns, interspersed with fragments of previous melodies, and then builds to a triumphant climax, bringing the work to a roaring and euphoric close.