Mission to Mars, Orchestra Commission Premiere
It is so much fun to write outer space themed music! Vienna Summer Strings commissioned a piece for their outer space themed summer and I had an absolute blast writing for them. Your imagination can run wild, there are scores of scores on celestial topics to reference, and you can get away with including all kinds of cool effects/techniques.
Col legno battuto is both fun to play and can serve to reference “Mars” from The Planets by Holst. Harmonics can sound otherworldly and provide a sense of weightlessness in sound and technique (as they literally need a fraction of the left hand weight of regular stopped notes to sound). The trajectory of a music line can resemble a launch.
As a former sectional coach and then orchestra director who worked for the camp, it was also a privilege to write for an organization that had helped me grow so much professionally. Being surrounded by so many musical, creative and professional teachers each summer gave me new insights into teaching music and a new bag of tricks to bring to my students each year. Writing with such a close knowledge of incredible capabilities of the coaches, directors, and student musicians came naturally and brought back many memories.
A beautiful new memory was created on the day of the “Mission to Mars” premiere. The students masterfully captured open rumblings as the piece took off at the beginning. Refined technique and timing ironically made the “weightless” section feel effortless and as if time were suspended. The real trick of the piece, the coda, was landed with the precision and style synonymous with the Vienna Summer Strings. Thank you for embarking on this mission with me!