Alexandria at Hell’s Gate (2019)
piccolo, b-flat clarinet, cello, percussion, & piano
duration: 7:30
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
ENSEMBLE OFFSPRING
US PREMIERE
UNIVERSITY OF texas at austin
Program Notes
Alexandria at Hell’s Gate was written in Noosa, Australia at the Noosa ISAM Festival, directed by Rob Melbourne. The guest ensemble for this festival is Ensemble Offspring.
The piece was inspired by my excursion to Noosa National Park. During my five-hour hike around the park, I came across two striking landmarks: Hell’s Gate and Alexandria Bay, both of which were neighbors to one another. I thought about how odd it was to have a landmark that was jagged, sharp, and quite lethal-looking sit right next to an almost sandy-white beach with greenery behind the beach and, in front of the beach strikingly-beautiful blue ocean water. I created a little story of a girl, Alexandria, admiring Hell’s Gate from a distance but eventually, her admiration of the landmark draws her closer and closer. Eventually, she finds herself too close to Hell’s Gate, crashing into the jagged rocks...leaving nothing else but the sound of waves and the groans of the sea as constantly draws closer into its depths.
Performance History
CLUTCH III - US Premiere - February 18, 2020
University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
Indigo Fischer - piccolo, Daniel Toscano - clarinet, José Castillo - cello, John Dawson - percussion, Noah Simon - piano
Noosa Arts Theatre - World Premiere - March 9, 2019
Noosa, Queensland - Australia
Ensemble Offspring