A Rainbow in the Dust

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Instrumentation: 

string quartet (vln, vln, vla, vlc)

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Duration: 

5.5 minutes

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Dedication:

Written for the 2019 Phoenix Art Museum Collaboration

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Date:

2019

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Premiere: 

April 13th, 2019 by Ziyang Zhang, Yuchen Cao, Iris Yang, and Xuehui Yui - The Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

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Program:

A Rainbow in the Dust was inspired by Agnes Pelton's transcendentalist painting, Sand Storm, which was on display at the Phoenix Art Museum during the Spring and Summer of 2019.  The painting expresses a feeling of hope in the midst of turmoil, as a bright light pierces through the intense sand and wind kicked up during a dust storm. Beneath this bright light, a dim rainbow in the painting serves as a symbol of transcendence.

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Pelton's poem, which accompanies the painting, also significantly influenced the narrative of the piece:

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Dense clouds that push and loom
Too early, darkening the day.

Above the streaming palms
Bent low to earth
Sharp points of blowing sand converge
Are posed beneath the sky's light blue
In balanced conformation.

Below this flowering, remote, serene
Behold the movement luminous -
A rainbow in the dust.

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Awards:

2019 - 2020 Kathleen Mykytyn Distinguished Composition Award - Third Prize