Music in Bloom 2026
Program
June 14 and 21
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill
Re-echo by Katy Abbott
Re-Echo for vibraphone and cello was written for Claire Edwardes and Julian Smiles. This work is a re-imagining of a region in Saudi Arabia that borders the UAE, called The Empty Quarter. Elements of the work hint at the desolate, isolated geographical area and contain other, emotionally ‘empty’ aspects, such as separation from country and family/friends.
The Pleasure at Being the Cause by Christopher Cerrone
The phrase “The Pleasure at Being The Cause” was coined by the German psychologist Karl Groos about cause and effect. This phrase was in my mind when Inbal Segev asked me to write a piece reflecting upon the experience of living through a pandemic year. So I wrote a brief piece for cello and piano reflecting on Groos’s idea relating to chamber music: each moment is determined by one player relating to the other. It opens with the simple sound of freely bouncing the bow on the string. This bouncing sound (the cause) is then imitated by the piano (the effect). As the piece proceeds the roles of cause and effect changes moment to moment, but each player’s role throughout is tightly bound to this simple idea.
Distance by Shawn Okpebholo
Composed in memory of Roger Lundin—a beloved teacher, scholar, and friend—this elegy for cello and marimba is inspired by Miho Nonaka’s poem Distance, written in Roger’s honor. The instrumentation reflects his quiet strength and depth, while musical quotations from Prepare Me One Body and For All the Saints pay tribute to his faith, humility, and devotion. Evoking themes of body, breath, grace, and memory, the work is dedicated to Roger’s wife, Susan Lundin.
Reflections by Shao Ying Low
Reflections was composed in August 2013, and it was inspired by American composer, Eric Ewazen. Having played his trio for flute, horn and piano, I like the very pastoral feel of that piece, especially the second movement. I use the clarinet and horn because I like their warm tones and (to me personally) very pastoral feel.
Three Paintings for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano by Gina Gillie
I. Highland Castle
II. Lavener Fields
III. Conneaut Rag
This work, while not based on any specific paintings, is meant to evoke images of what could be classic paintings in the mind of the listener.
“Highland Castle” sets the scene of an old Scottish castle standing stoically amongst a grey landscape. The castle is no longer occupied, but observers can imagine the revelry and energetic Celtic music that might have once animated the scene.
“Lavender Fields” evokes images of pastoral fields in France where the purple flowers stretch down puffy rows and the pace of life feels slower. In this movement, listeners are encouraged to bask in the wash of lovely sound and lush harmonies.
“Conneaut Rag” is influenced by a uniquely American style of music from the early 1900s – Ragtime. The movement was written while the composer was visiting her in-laws in Conneaut, Ohio.
The Never-ending Ocean of Identity by Quinn Mason
“The Never-ending Ocean of Identity” is a reworked movement from my 2017 piano suite ‘Homage a Lola Perrin’. It is yet another tribute to the beautiful and thought-provoking style of the pianist-composer Lola Perrin, being similarly inspired by her own piano suites. The musical content consists of a simple motif which develops and morphs itself melodically throughout the short composition.
The Lodge at Gates Pond by Oliver Caplan
From my house you can see an idyllic pond tucked into the mountains. This pond’s finest residents: the beavers, have created a magnificent dam. A few Januarys back, a storm breached the timber dam, draining the pond nearly dry. The scene was concerning: the beavers huddled together on an icy mudflat. People did the best they could to convince the beavers to patch the dam, but to no avail. A spirited band pulled on their waders, climbed into the freezing pond, and got to work patching up the beavers’ dam. That’s the sort of people who live here. The dam has held to this day. I wrote this piece for the beavers—and for the people who love them. We could use a few more of both.
Sand and Snow by Rachel Panitch
I. Keeping Track
II. Sand and Snow
III. Dorr’s Winter
IV. The Puddings
V. Beneath the Ice
In 2018–19, I was given the opportunity to divide a two-week artist residency in Acadia National Park across seasons and different geographic areas of the park. In September, it was the rustic Eli Creek cabin on Isle au Haut and at the contrasting Schoodic Institute on Schoodic Peninsula. Both felt like their own worlds apart from the packed Mount Desert Island section of Acadia. I experienced Acadia’s more central areas in snowy February. It was me, my fiddle, guitar, and a keyboard in the huge and echoey Brown Mountain Gate House. I also hiked around the area where “father of Acadia National Park” George Dorr once lived–and where he reportedly took daily swims all year round.
Valley of the Moon Reel by Natalie Haas, trans. Alasdair Fraser
Giga de Tenerife by Natalie Haas, trans. Alasdair Fraser
Natalie Mariah by Natalie Haas, trans. Alasdair Fraser
Cameron’s Caper by Natalie Haas, trans. Alasdair Fraser
The music on this album is highly original, with most of the pieces written by Alasdair Fraser and also including a wonderful new composition by Natalie Haas. ....So the idea of pairing a master fiddler such as Alasdair Fraser with the sublime cello playing of Natalie Haas might seem like a stroke of brilliance, something bold and new. But according to Fraser, it's a pairing that has deep roots in Celtic tradition. 'People may be familiar with the gorgeous, melodic cello sound,' Fraser says, 'but they're surprised to learn that the cello used to comprise the rhythm section in Scottish dance bands.'
Trois Gymnopedie by Elena Ruehr
I. i was dreaming of dancing
II. in some ancient time…
III. in a sunlit forest
Written for Vanessa Holroyd, Daniel Dona and Franziska Huhn, Trois Gymnopedies are three movements inspired by Satie and Debussy. The titles are a kind of poem that harken back to my childhood when I lived on the edge of a great forest near the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan.
… and low to the lake falls home by Andrea Clearfield
II. songs my mother taught me
III. pipes and fiddles
This piece is commissioned by, and dedicated to, my long-time dear friend, acclaimed
flutist Carol Wincenc. She requested a piece that would be dedicated to her beloved parents, Margaret and Joseph Wincenc, both major influences on her musical education. We chose five evocative texts to commemorate their lives. Songs II and III are inspired by texts written by Heyduk and set to music by Antonín Dvorák in his famous Gypsy Melodies, Op. 55. The second movement is a reflection on melody, mother, and memory. The third is a romp in the face of death – turning, dancing, spinning, laughing “while we may”. With much gratitude to The MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where this work was composed.
Chrysalis by Sarah Kirkland Snider
Chrysalis sets the eponymous poem by the young poet, Ivanna Yi, whom I met in an art-songwriting course at Yale. Ivanna’s deceptively simple, lyrical poetry was a revelation to me.
The poem I have not written
comes to me in my sleep,
a woman dressed in white.
I have been waiting for you,
I tell her. After all this time,
why are you still unwritten?
Without shame she slips out of her dress.
I tried to become a poem, she says,
until I became human.
“The Tree of Many Names” from Minterne by Jonathan Dove
A setting for Soprano, Violin and Cello of original poems written for this occasion by Vikram Seth Commissioned by Veronica Stewart on behalf of the Summer Music Society of Dorset for The Lady Digby to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Summer Music Society of Dorset.
Dawn by Stacy Garrop
When the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble commissioned me for a piece, I seized the opportunity to feature a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was the first African-American poet and novelist to gain national and international recognition. The subject matter of Dunbar’s poems encompasses a wide array of topics, from his observations of nature, love, and life to his renditions (many of which are written in dialect) of African American life. Dawn is taken from Dunbar’s 1896 book Lyrics of Lowly Life.
Chāhār Mezrābe Māhur by Kian Ravaei
One of the most influential figures in Iranian classical music, Darvish Khān (1872–1926) was a prolific composer in addition to being a master of the traditional plucked string instruments tār and setār. The term chāhār mezrāb means a fast, étude-like piece, and māhur indicates a collection of notes similar to the Western major scale. My arrangement preserves Darvish Khān’s melody, infusing it with Western harmonies while translating the techniques of setār-playing to the violin and cello.
Who Makes a Clearing by Reena Esmail
Wendell Berry’s beautiful sonnet begins with the line: “Who makes a clearing makes a work of art.” While this poem is about an actual clearing in the woods, Berry’s words made me reflect on how many ways there are to make a clearing — both outwardly and in our own souls — to receive beauty. This work was written as a gift for Frederick Peters, someone who has generously and thoughtfully created a clearing for so many musicians, and helped bring so much beautiful music into the world.