Program Note:

I started writing this piece because I wanted to give some new music to a good friend, Don-Paul Kahl. I also wanted to begin a recital with a prelude before a performance of my Channeling, for mezzo-soprano and alto saxophone.

Some things I associate with the piece include spiky hues of red, green, blue, and yellow, silvery night jazz, a solo dancer, expressionist faces, and alarm bells.

Claude Debussy's Syrinx was on my mind as I wrote the work. The piece also pays homage to two of my favorite composers, Arnold Schoenberg and Galina Ustvolskaya.

Performances:

• Don-Paul Kahl, Wortham Theater, Houston, Texas, March 19, 2024.