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HOLD SACRED (2020)
by Akshaya Avril Tucker
Akshaya Avril Tucker, composer
Hold Sacred Program Note
The goal of the piece is to soothe. To hold something sacred to us is soothing; to remember it is soothing.
I mean to hold sacredness literally. Make "hold" the verb that it is. Hold sacred, as you would a baby chick, a tiny plant, a memory, or someone’s hand.The gentleness comes from the desire to protect this dear object, to stay in this comfort for a while...
With the task of meditating on the concept of "sacredness," for WindSync's "Sacred and Profane" program, I had to ask what was sacred to me personally. The answer, especially during this pandemic, is "touch and feel" things. Repotting plants. Kneading bread dough. (Giving a hug!) Fewer think-y things... It is touching that keeps me going. It soothes anxiety; a magical antidote, special serotonin. We may only create a few moments of soothing sounds together, and then... we will go right back to the way things were. But maybe just for a moment, we can hold this feeling in our hands.
"Hold Sacred" features a blend of abstracted raga-inspired fragments that swirl through unusual harmonies and (hopefully) invite a meditation on whatever is most soothing to the listener.
As part of the SPA commissioning grant, members of WindSync and Akshaya were interviewed prior to the premiere of Hold Sacred where they talk about the process of how a piece of music is created and much more!
APOLLO (2019)
Marc Mellits, composer
Commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing
SONG BOOK VOLUME 3 (2018)
Ivan Trevino, composer
Check out the first movement below! Other movements available to watch on our YouTube channel.
THE COSMOS (2016)
Michael Gilbertson, composer
Commissioned to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of The Planets by Gustav Holst, The Cosmos explores features of the universe in our solar system and beyond. Click here for more information!
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT (2015)
Paul Lansky, composer
Listen to WindSync's world premiere of Paul Lansky's quintet The Long and Short of It as performed on Oct. 24, 2015 at the Library of Congress, alongside works by living American composers, Adam Schoenberg, David Maslanka and other classical masterpieces for wind quintet. Lansky studied with George Perle and Milton Babbitt and played horn briefly in the Dorian Quintet before joining the composition faculty at Princeton University. His new nine-movement work, commissioned by the Carolyn Royall Just Fund in the Library of Congress and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, was inspired by the third movement Adagio of Mozart’s Serenade for Winds K. 361.
This on-demand music is part of a partnership between Q2 Music and Concerts from the Library of Congress to share works that the Library of Congress either commissioned or presented as world or US premieres dating back to the 2009-2010 season.