wint’ring (2025) | 8’ | 111(dblng. bscl)1, 1110, egtr, bgtr, ds, str:11111 | with video by Courage Barda

written for the inaugural 2025-26 Overtuned Fest in Bloomington, Indiana as part of the Rock Sinfonia + Visual Art Collaboration

I wrote this piece while watching birds fly south from my window. In Midwestern America, specifically under the Mississippi Flyway, early winter bird migration means that we get to see species that don’t often come around—often some interesting waterfowl flocks coming all the way from northern Canada, the Hudson Bay, and even Greenland. This year brought a plethora of swans, geese, and many other birds I don’t have the ability to recognize. It makes sense why so many indigenous American musical traditions imitate/evoke birds (Inuk katajjaq, Kumeyaay ashaa takook, Andean sikuri, etc.). Watching these birds fly by in their long formations, I became quite enamored with the sounds I was hearing. They made their way into this piece, and a scene emerged—a soft winter horizon of snow, dried-up trees, pale-blue skies, and, of course, migrating birds.

premiere ensemble at Switchyard Park Pavilion (Bloomington, IN):

Josh Catanzaro, conductor

Tierney McClure, flute

Josh Wright, oboe

Jacob Wolf, clarinet & bass clarinet

Jasper Wright, bassoon

Madison Sinan, trumpet

Ethan Hiner-Stolhand, horn

Robert Cardon-Wake, trombone

Pavle Gavrilović, electric guitar

Jacob Woodward, electric bass guitar

Noah Lopez, drumset

Christopher Herz, violin 1

Lev Roshal, violin 2

Hannah Wendorf, viola

Yeajin Go, cello

Javier Hernández, double bass

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