DESCRIPTION:
Happy New Year from New Zealand to all my family, friends, and viewers. Here is a piece inspired by the landscape and culture of my adopted home down under. I hope you enjoy it. Best wishes for a prosperous and creative 2011!

Performed by the Santa Rosa Symphony Young People's Chamber Orchestra, April 2003. Jenny Diaz, soloist. Directed by Linda Ghidossi-DeLuca.

The YPCO is an elite group of around 20 teenage string players, age 11-17. They perform without a conductor, using gesture, body language, and teamwork to cue each other and stay in sync. At the time of this recording, the soloist Jenny was 16 years old, and had been with the ensemble for several years. Members of the YPCO have often played in support of the string section in regular SRSO concerts, and a high proportion of graduates go on to become professional musicians.

I was composer in residence for this group for over six years, and this work is one of over a dozen that I composed specifically for its members.