SOUNDS OF A SIGHTLESS WORLD (2021) for alto saxophone and piano

Instrumentation: alto saxophone and piano

Duration: ~6 minutes

Performance/Recording History:

• Premiered by Emma Allen, alto saxophone and Susan Snyder, piano on January 29, 2022 at the Interlochen Arts Academy Composers Forum in Interlochen, MI

• Performed by Cameron Roberts, alto saxophone and Leandro Isaac Motta, piano on April 25, 2022 at the Chicago College of Performing Arts Student Composition Recital in Ganz Hall in Chicago, IL

• Performed by Emma Allen, alto saxophone and Susan Snyder, piano on May 19, 2022 at the composer’s Senior Recital at Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, MI

• Performed by Emma Allen, alto saxophone and Susan Snyder, piano on May 25, 2022 at the Interlochen Arts Academy Music Composition Recital in Interlochen, MI

Awards:

• Selected as the 1st Prize Winner in Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA) 2021-22 CCPA Young Composer Competition

• Selected as the Second Place Winner in Class IV of the 2022 National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers Contest

Program Notes:

Sounds of a Sightless World is directly inspired by a poem of the same name written by my good friend and collaborator Ivan Pelley. The poem is provided here:

When you sit down and you

see them and hear them

and think them.

Then you wonder: who sent them

who created and sent her,

to my heart to my brain,

to my lungs

To my mind in the rain

And the gray owl above, looking–

swooping, gazing

Down, down, down

In the blue; blue black rain

Where can we find them

Meet them & greet them

with the gray owl

up or down, around

We'll see if we can find them

Let's sing

Let's sing

Let's sing– let's singe

our soul on inside

And we dream we see

Them turning as it is storming

The gray owl sits

And watches the moon

As the sunrises on the set

mourning.