An Opening Goodbye

An Opening Goodbye (2023)

for large mixed ensemble
duration: 5’

Performed by Contemporaneous

INSTRUMENTATION Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Trumpet in Bb, Trombone, Electric Guitar, Piano
2 Percussion: 1 = 2 Toms, 2 Bongos, 2 Woodblocks, Hi-Hat, Gong placed on Tom, Police Whistle, Glockenspiel (w/ bow) 2 = Kick Drum, 2 Toms, Guiro, Suspended Cymbal, Bell Tree, Flexatone, Police Whistle, 2 Tuned Gongs G & D 2
2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabass (with low C)

Program Note

In October of 2018 the United Nations released a report which predicts that we have 12 years to reverse our trend of carbon emissions, keep the planet below a 1.5°C temperature rise, and prevent the initiation of a chain reaction of catastrophes that will change our planet irrevocably.  

What to do when something is too big? When it is unfathomable and unfeelable? I think for us humans the answer is that we create ceremony. We draw lines, invent processes, and walk ourselves through steps. 

This is the opening of my ceremony. My ceremony says:  My actions do matter. It is important to say goodbye even if it is painful. Each life lost is its own holocaust. Each goodbye is a remembrance.

My ceremony also asks: after the end, what next?

About the Work

AN OPENING GOODBYE was written for Contemporaneous in 2019 and premiered by them at the Taplin Auditorium at Princeton University on April 15 , 2019. It was updated in 2023 and recorded by Contemporaneous in Brooklyn, NY.