Syzygy

Syzygy is written for Jennifer Koh and the Chicago Sinfonietta. This work is inspired by three artists and their work: painter Alma Thomas (1891-1978), painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), and designer, architect, and artist Maya Ying Lin (b. 1959). Each movement corresponds to a separate work of art by each of these artists: Thomas’ The Eclipse (1970), Kahlo’s Tree of Hope, Keep Firm (1946), and Lin’s Eclipsed Time (1994). Syzygy refers to the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system. The theme of eclipse is present in all of these works as are contrasts of lightness and darkness.

I. Alma Thomas: The Eclipse

II. Frida Kahlo: Tree of Hope, Keep Firm

III. Maya Ying Lin: Eclipsed Time