Four Folkless-songs (2023)

for violin and harp

Duration: 14'

Premiere: TBD

Commissioned by Etusko Kimura and Lori Gemmel, with support from the City of Toronto through Toronto Arts Council

Programme Note:

Four Folkless-Songs explores the tradition of folksong suites composed during the 20th-Century (Bartok, Vaughn-Williams, de Falla, Sibelius, etc.), while purposefully removing itself from any specific cultural heritage.

I instead took tropes that are found at the core of most cultures’ folk-music (lullabies, work, mourning, love) and approached them through my personal musical vernacular, and with a contemporary viewpoint on how these songs might function related to today’s world.

Four Folkless-Songs was commissioned by Etsuko Kimura and Lori Gemmell with the generous support of the City of Toronto, through Toronto Arts Council.

- Recording available upon request -