yesterday, today, tomorrow, the next day

for amplified pierrot ensemble + voice/vibraphone/media, written for the National Sawdust Ensemble / Hildegard Commission (2023)

yesterday, today, tomorrow, the next day, sets Cavafy's poems "Monotony" and "Outside the House." It draws from my routine and recurring daily walks around Harlem with my little dog Nori. Multiple times per day, we take routined paths through our neighborhood and pass by the same buildings, parks, and stores. However, we have also built community with our neighbors, have unexpected encounters with other dogs, and occasionally take detours that bring us to experience our neighborhood in new ways. The piece incorporates field recordings from our walks and training; as well as samples of local birds, jingling keys and collar tags, and ginkgo leaves collected from the sidewalk. It is written in a modular, guided improvisational style that allows the performers to evoke meaning in repetition as well as unexpectedly introduce new gestures, timbres, or ideas; working to express the feeling of finding newness in the quotidian.

Recording:
National Sawdust Hildegard Commission
Lucy Dhegrae, voice
Brandon Patrick George, flute
Eric Umble, clarinet
Sae Hashimoto, vibraphone
Blair McMillen, piano
Yaz Lancaster, violin
Jeffrey Zeigler, cello/director

Additional Credits:
Eve O’Donnell (AD), Cori Matos Aguilera (Associate Producer), Garth MacAleavey (Sound Design), Damien Moffitt (Audio Assistant), Bruce Steinberg (Lighting Design), Carlton Bright (Videographer)

Written for and commissioned by National Sawdust for the Hildegard Commission '23, generously made possible by the Onassis Foundation, and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

World premiere 3/9/2023 @ National Sawdust (NYC)