This three movement work was commissioned by the Sierra Watercolor Society to accompany their “Community Perspectives” Exhibition and was premiered during their Artists’ Reception at Makers Paradise inside the Reno Public Market, on July 22, 2023, by Joshua Anderson (clarinet) Peter Lenz,(‘cello) and James Winn (keyboard), in two performances.

The recording is from their encore performance presented on Monday, October 23, 2023, at 7:00 p.m., with an acoustic piano, at the Reno Little Theater.

I began composing the music in mid-April 2023 after viewing photographs of just a few of the images that were eventually submitted for the exhibit. The image of the painting with titled ‘Avoided’ struck me right away with a strange feeling, and I began to imagine the homeless person rising up to walk alongside the other figure in the painting. This was my starting point for composing the music of the first movement, Abandoned (Imagine).

The music of the second movement, Differences, suggests how we might begin to solve some of the problems that arise from differences between people, through communication and compromise.

And the last movement, Sanctuary, offers up a vision well-being, something we all hope to achieve.