HYPERBOREA (2011)
orchestra
3333/4331/timp/3perc/hp/strings
duration 10:30
"Never the muse is absent from their ways:
lyres clash and flutes cry and everywhere maiden choruses whirling. Neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed in their sacred blood: far from labor and battle they live.
...But whatsoever splendors we mortals may reach,
...neither by ship nor on foot would you find the marvelous road to Hyperborea."
-Pindar, from the 10th Pythian ode
The ancient Greeks believed that a blessed realm, Hyperborea, existed in the far North beyond the reach of the north wind.
Hyperborea (2011), commissioned by the St. Olaf Orchestra, is a musical and spiritual journey inspired by the horizons of the far North, especially my home near Sweden's Baltic Coast.
PERFORMANCES & AWARDS
commissioned by the St. Olaf Orchestra
premiere: St. Olaf Orchestra 2011 fall tour, October 12-21 2011
2014 ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize for best orchestral score
2013 ASCAP Morton Gould Award, honorable mention
2014 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute selected work