Komorebi (2016)

Duration: ca. 10′
Instrumentation: solo flute with light
Commissioned by Krisztina Dér
Score

I met Krisztina Dér while attending the 2011 soundSCAPE festival in Maccagno, Italy. She was a flutist on the premiere performance of Tercets, expanding. Several years later, Krisztina contacted me asking if I’d like to write a piece for her dissertation project, which sought to commission new works that incorporated lighting as a key compositional element. Needless to say, this was a fascinating idea, and I began work on it later that summer.

Komorebi (木漏れ日) is the Japanese word for sunlight as it filters through the leaves of trees. Though this is a familiar sight for anyone who has taken a walk among trees, there is no English equivalent that captures it as elegantly. The piece is a duo for flute soloist and lighting designer, featuring the shading of longer notes with small microtonal variations and harmonics, which are paralleled with the casting of shadows and colored light around the soloist.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

October 11, 2018 – Westminster, MD
Krisztina Dér, flute

September 11, 2018 – Lynchburg, VA
Krisztina Dér, flute

March 29, 2018 – College Park, MD
Krisztina Dér, flute

January 22, 2018 – Portland, OR
Orlando Cela, flute

September 29, 2016 – Pembroke, NC
Krisztina Dér, flute

September 17, 2016 – Greensboro, NC (world premiere)
Kristina Dér, flute