Portrait concert

“Dryaden” was written for three electronic five-string violins, one of which uses a scordatura on the lowest string and a harmony pedal. The pedal adds an additional note to every note played on the instrument. This pedal helps to create very full and rich textures that otherwise could not be achieved with only three players. Dryads are the wood nymphs of ancient Greek mythology. The trio consists of three movements:

Gaia and Uranos
When Gaia (Earth) was young, long before the first humans, the nymphs were created, born from the blood of Uranos and the earth of Gaia. [Hesoid Theogony, p. 346]

Dance of the oreads and satyrs
The oreads, mountain nymphs, are playful, teasing and beautiful. They are the mythological sisters of the satyrs and often play together with them. The satyrs, animalistic humans, fertility spirits of the land and the wilderness, are vicious and ugly, but also like to play. They are often seen drinking, dancing, singing and playing the flute.

Hesperides
The Hesperides are the primordial seven, the elder nymphs who live on an island surrounded by mists to obscure them and protect them from outsiders. They are the nymphs of the west who protect the golden apples of life: Daughters of Erebus, guardians of the golden sun and keepers of sacred treasures. Poets like Ovid have described them as having the power of sweet songs. Many, including heroes such as Hercules and Perseus, came to their land and brought dramas with them in search of the treasures they kept.

Ephemera, solo, 5-string, electric
The haziness of finding your way in a dream, of walking through the murky fog until you find a familiar, yet not quite familiar place. You join up with people you know well but have never met before. Search the unconscious layers of your mind and memory together and see and feel the world you have created around you. Ephemera guides us through the feeling of dreaming. It begins and ends with the use of a delay pedal that produces rhythmically tight echoes and satisfying harmonic layers.

Cyathea, trio for oboe, viola and harp
Imagine yourself far back in prehistory, where the fauna soaks up the carbon-rich atmosphere and represents the monsters on the horizon. Violin heads unfurl and tower above you like the giant sequoia. The earth is covered with lush tropical forests where the fern is king. Cyathea, named after the Greek word for fern, is playful, passionate and full of sound. Each sentence is written in short miniatures and depicts a different character of the earth in its prehistory.

Uroboros, string quartet
Uroboros was written for acoustic string quartet and reflects the cyclical nature of the universe, often referred to as the wheel of time. The uroboros, a snake that constantly bites its own tail, is a symbol of birth, death and renewal. In four movements, this string quartet focuses on the wide range of emotions and experiences contained in the eternal cyclical renewal that Uroboros represents.