for Concert Black
duration: 11'

Domenica Fossati, alto flute and voice
Eleonore Oppenheim, double bass and voice
Owen Weaver, percussion and voice

Commissioned by Concert Black

Premiered on July 13, 2015 at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Fairbanks, AK

About the work

The Same River was commissioned by the ensemble Concert Black, who are a trio of diversely talented musician enthusiastic about experimentation. I wrote this piece to bring out their individual musicianship and their identity as an ensemble. This lead me to use them as vocalists as well as instrumentalists. The texts I use for the two movements are two poems written by John Knight that were based on a series of conversations we had about the challenge of retaining individuality while being socially connected. The title refers to a quote from the philosopher Heraclitus which appears at the end of the second movement: “We step and we do not step into the same river. We are and we are not.”