Program Note: Music for Piano Trio was commissioned by the Rohm Music Foundation for the 2016 Kyoto International Music Festival and premiered in Kyoto, Japan by members of the Juilliard Orchestra. It was an honor to represent American music on an international concert series and that context is genesis of this work. In thinking about some of the most successful works by American composers that are known to sound very “American” and what it was about these pieces that makes them so American, I looked at pieces like Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland and Three Places in New England Three Places in New England by Charles Ives, who like me, grew up in Danbury, Connecticut.

What I found most inspirational about these works is the kinetic rhythmic energy and the exuberance in the musical materials that creates a sense of drama, urgency, and sincerity. It is my hope that Music for Piano Trio captures those qualities throughout its narrative. The title is an homage to one of my teachers, Justin Dello Joio, who also has a piano trio of the same name: a work I greatly admire by a composer I greatly admire.

Commisioned By: pianoSonoma for the Longleash Trio

Premiere: anticipated for August 2015 in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center, Rohnert Park, CA.