For a While

For the Grossman ensemble

Commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition

For a While is a reflection on my five years as a graduate student at the University of Chicago—a reflection on the moments, friendships, difficulties, and sounds that have shaped me and made my time here unique and special. In the early stages of this composition, the music that I was imagining was quiet, delicate, fragile... After the first workshop with the Grossman ensemble, I understood that the thought of leaving the place and the people who make it what it is made me emotional. After all, members of the ensemble are some of the first musicians I met when I arrived here or people who taught me early on. It feels as if we have watched one another grow. While there are remnants of that in the piece, there is much more than fragility and quietness. The shadow of a Cypriot folk song symbolizes home because that is what those around me made this foreign space into. There is rhythm, dance... color. After all, my time here was fun. It was loud, nervous...weird. My time here was made of bright and dark moments that are now valuable memories I will forever cherish. It was made of music and teachings that changed me forever. Finally, my time here was made of friends and colleagues who are now family members who will always be by my side. It is to them that I dedicate this piece.