Co-commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony and the Interlochen Arts Academy as part of the 2022 First Music Program
Premiered 03/19/23 by Michael Repper and the New York Youth Symphony in Carnegie Hall
Recorded in rehearsal at the DiMenna Center
Growing up between the US and China, I always found the idea of home to be somewhat elusive. This was never truer for me than in 2022: I passed through more than 20 cities over an exhilarating nine months, teaching scores of students, working with orchestras, and composing frantically the whole time. As excited as I was to take in all the sights, sounds, and locales, I also began to feel profoundly lonely. Almost every aspect of my life - my community, my family, my faith - had undergone seismic upheavals in that same stretch of time and, as I introduced myself again and again to dozens of new people in dozens of new places, I started to feel as though my name was the only point of stability I had left.
In the midst of all the flying, I began to consider the swallow: a small, common bird that makes its home on every continent. Their ubiquity has made them symbols of familiarity for cultures across the globe. For the ancient Romans, they heralded the arrival of spring; in Chinese folklore, the swallow (燕子 - yanzi) signifies the warmth of family due to their careful attention to their young; for European sailors, sighting one was as good as sighting home, as swallows rarely flew far off the coast even during their migratory season. In this time of travel, though, they still remain extraordinarily caring, continuing to feed their young mid-flight. I wondered if swallows were able to find a sense of home in the middle of transit, and soon started to wonder if the same might be possible for myself. Despite my locality continually shifting, I was still able to maintain a few anchoring relationships in my life that give me some measure of groundedness.
These relationships provided the seed for Sighting the Swallow, a work of restless modulations and shimmering textures that is ultimately as much a journal as it is a tribute to my loved ones. The piece begins inchoate and sparkling as songful horns carry the main idea. Gradually, the ensemble’s swirling harmonies contract into a tightening spiral, flitting birdlike from key to key with increasing energy. Finally, the roving modulations stabilize, and the music, content, quietly returns to roost in the orchestra’s highest register.