Serenade for Strings

2025

Orchestral

Details

Category

Orchestral

Composed

2025, from sketches made in 2007 and 2013

instrumentation

string orchestra

duration

16 minutes

commissioned by

Jeffery Meyer, Music Director, IU Jacobs School of Music, lead commissioner; Northwest Sinfonietta, co-commissioner; Raphael Jiménez, Music Director, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, co-commissioner; Octavio Mas-Arocas, Music Director, Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, co-commissioner; Carl St. Clair, Music Director, USC Thornton School of Music, co-commissioner; Gary Lewis, Music Director, UC Boulder, co-commissioner; Creston Herron, Music Director, University of Kansas, co-commissioner; Lanfranco Marcelletti Jr., Music Director, Texas Tech University, co-commissioner; Ho-Yin Kwok, Music Director, Ithaca College, co-commissioner; Paul Phillips, Music Director, Stanford University, co-commissioner

premiered

March 8-9, 2025 by Northwest Sinfonietta; Jeffrey Meyer, conductor

Purchase Score

In one movement

Subsequent performances:

Oberlin Conservatory Chamber Orchestra; Raphael Jimenez conducting - April 3, 2025
CU Boulder Symphony Orchestra; Gary Lewis conducting - September 25, 2025
Stanford Symphony Orchestra; Paul Phillips conducting - November 14/16, 2025
Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Jaggars conducting - November 18, 2025
Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra; Ho-Yin Kwok conducting - December 4, 2025
USC Thornton Chamber Orchestra; Mei-Ann Chen, conductor - April 20, 2026
Indiana University Orchestra; Jeffrey Meyer, conductor - April 25, 2026

Program Notes

This ‘Serenade for Strings’ is a project many years in the making. The present composition is the result of musical ideas composed as far back as 2007 and 2013. In a sense, the piece has had multiple early lives and finally takes shape in its final life as this piece. In composing a ‘Serenade for Strings’, one mustn’t forget the masterworks that the genre boasts, such as those by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Dvořák and others. Therefore, I sought to use the groundwork they laid, but speak in my own voice (and use only one movement) in a mostly post-romantic style. From a slow-burn introduction, I write several contrasting fast sections that are melody focused, and build upon previous themes. However, despite these fast sections, the piece retains a dark, reflective and somewhat nostalgic color. While the piece glances back lovingly, it also looks forward dynamically and lyrically.

‍