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Lissie Okopny, flute
Cliff Colnot, conductor
Student musicians of the Jacobs School of Music
PROGRAM NOTES
A Shade of Gray is the product of a musical goal of mine to create beauty through simplicity. The piece is built on a fleeting, lonely melody and a soft, starry four-note gesture, both of which tend to stray from the harmonic framework that accompanies them. The melody ventures through several emotional atmospheres while the starry motif lingers in the background. The music receives a colorful brightness from the piano, celesta, and vibraphone as well as a rounded warmth from four horns. Originally conceived as the middle movement of a flute concerto, A Shade of Gray was written for flautist Lissie Okopny, whose playing has always inspired me.
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