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A PORTRAIT OF AUGUSTA READ THOMAS.

Audio sampler Of Paradise and Light runs from 5:15-6:12)

Of Paradise and Light performed by the All-Star Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Schwarz

Program Note

Of Paradise and Light, is an orchestral transcription my 2008 setting of e e cummings' poem, (kiss me), for girls' chorus. A work loosely in the tradition of Barber's Adagio for Strings: one which draws on the subtle and nuanced colors of the Orchestra's string sections to create a soulful work of reflection, as though a sliver of paradise and light came down to shine upon a garden of colorful flowers.

Music for me is an embrace of the world, a way to open myself to being alive in the world — in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind. I yearn to reflect in my own singing and composing the ways that listening has changed me. I write music that craves a listener — whomever that listener may be — and I am concerned with speaking honestly. I care deeply about musicality, imagination, craft, clarity, dimensionality, an elegant balance between material and form, and empathy with the performing musicians as well as everyone who works in the presenting organizations.

One central metaphor of my life’s creative work is that of light refracting. Of interest to me, for my work, is to build, sculpt, and compose clean, clear, transparent, translucent, luminous, radiant, shining, resounding, and resonant musical materials.

Organic and at every level concerned with transformations and connections, the carefully sculpted musical materials are agile and resonant. Their flexibility allows pathways to braid harmonic, rhythmic, and contrapuntal elements which are constantly transformed.

Although my music is meticulously notated in every detail, I like it to sound like it was being spontaneously invented – always in the act of becoming. I have a vivid sense that the process of the creative journey (rather than a predictable fixed point of arrival) is, for me, essential. I love virtuosic performances that percolate and spiral with natural musicality.

It is difficult to express how grateful I am to the extraordinary colleagues who have made possible this performance.

Music’s eternal quality is its capacity for change, transformation, and renewal. No one composer, musical style, school of thought, technical practice, culture, or historical period can claim a monopoly on music’s truths. I believe music feeds our souls. Unbreakable is the power of art to build community. Humanity has and will always work together to further music’s flexible, diverse capacity and innate power.

"Of Paradise and Light" : Composer and Her Work

Selected Reviews

Bernard Jacobson, The Seattle Times SSO ushers in Schwarz's farewell season with stirring evening
"Along with his spectacular enhancement of performance standards, Gerard Schwarz's 26-year tenure as the Seattle Symphony's music director has been notable for his unwavering championship of contemporary American music. Nothing, then, could have been more appropriate than to mark his farewell season by commissioning new short pieces from 18 of the composers whose careers he has done so much to foster.
"The first result of this initiative, supported by philanthropists Agnes Gund and Charles Simonyi, surfaced on Wednesday. Augusta Read Thomas' Of Paradise and Light, arranged by the composer for string orchestra (without basses) from her 2008 setting of a poem by e.e. cummings, got the project off to a very satisfying start. About seven minutes long, this is music at once approachable in its basically tonal idiom and original in its freshly imagined orchestral textures, each string line independent, yet seemingly propelled and enlivened by its companions."

Jim Lowe, The Rutland Herald-Vermont, November 1, 2022 Burton delivers luscious sound with VSO, VSO Chorus
"A very special moment was achieved in contemporary American composer Augusta Read Thomas’ “Of Paradise and Light” for strings. The writing is simply brilliant as Thomas sculpted the lines unexpectedly and creatively. Burton and the VSO delivered it with tender care and beauty.

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Augusta Read Thomas's works, please contact G. Schirmer Inc..