Commissioned by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
There is something noble, sweeping, and grand about looking back on life, reflecting on life’s triumphs, pains, joys, and mysteries. I composed this piece after Jessye Norman’s death, and listened to her sublime recording of Strauss’s autumnal Four Last Songs frequently. Strauss perfectly captures this feeling of contemplation, especially in the final song “Im Abendrot”. In Afterword, I make subtle references to this song.
I also composed this piece while reading Hanya Yanagihara’s novel A Little Life, which is at its core a meditation on life’s sweetness and anguish. Without spoiling the novel, one of the characters experiences unimaginable pain. To me there is something particularly poignant about someone who reflects on a difficult life: the shortness of it, how cruel it can be, how ephemeral, how sweet.
Afterword is dedicated to my great friend Jacob.
Premiere performance below, at the Barns at Wolf Trap by Danbi Um, Paul Huang, and Orion Weiss in February 2020
2025
Co-commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Houston, and Chamber Music Monterey Bay for the Escher Quartet
2022
This work was commissioned by La Jolla SummerFest and premiered at the Conrad in La Jolla, CA in August 2022.
2021
Written for Edgar Meyer and the Dover Quartet in 2021
2020
Commissioned by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
2018
Commissioned by Chamber Music America with generous funding provided by the Mellon Foundation
2018
Commissioned By Efe Baltacigil And Nicolas Kendall
2018
Commissioned By Chamber Music Northwest, With Support From New Music USA
2016
Written for Demarre, Anthony McGill, and Michael McHale
2015
Commissioned By Chamber Music Northwest
2014
Commissioned by the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival
2013
Commissioned by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society for the Attacca Quartet
2013
Commissioned by Orchestra 2001
2012
Commissioned by the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
2010
Written For The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble
2010
Commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music
2009
Commissioned By Curtis-on-tour for Benjamin Beilman and Yekwon Sunwoo
2009
Commissioned by Music From Angel Fire, Ida Kavafian, Director
2008
Commissioned By The Curtis Institute Of Music
2007
2008 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award
