Silver Wing

Performance History: First performed at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing by the International Schools Choral Music Society Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Robert Hasty, February 18, 2017. (Original title: "A Bird Came Down the Walk".)

Program Notes: "Silver Wing" is a fanciful setting of Emily Dickinson's poem "A Bird Came Down the Walk". It's a whimsical setting of an equally whimsical poem, whereby Dickinson humorously inflates the routine comings and goings of a small bird with an almost Homeric epic quality. Similarly the musical setting takes a simple hymn-like chorale, and launches it into the air, with noble horns and soaring strings.