Synapses for Wind Quintet

Ensemble: for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn in F, and bassoon

Duration: 10”

Written: 2013

Commissioned by: The Aspen Music Festival

Premiered by: The Aspen Chamber Players

Synapses for Wind Quintet was commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival Chamber program in 2013. Written after the death of my best friend, Jamie, I had many memories passing through my mind of people, places, and things that no longer existed. I became fascinated with the physics of how memories are stored and recalled, and how my friend was no longer in the physical world, he simply lived in the firings of cells and neurons in my brain. In Synapses, I use the wind quintet as a human brain--each instrument adds its own electrical impulse, and the full group creates bigger textures and images for the listener.