In Memory of the 288 Philadelphians Killed By Guns in 2012 (2015)

FOR SOLO FLUTE AND PROJECTION

I came across this photograph in a cafe in North Philly in the Winter of 2014. It was taken by a local photographer and retired public school principal named Ellie Seif. A couple weeks later, we talked and she granted me permission to use her photo as part of a music piece. I included the image in the experience of the piece to give both the performer and the audience an emotional reference point to contemplate over the course of the piece. The image provides the dramatic scenario. I thought of it as an aria, sung by a lone voice, lamenting the tragedy of interpersonal violence, stupefied by the loss of young lives. In a single city, a person killed by a gun more than every other day.

In Memory of the 288 was commissioned by the Myrna Brown Commissioning Project to serve as a competition piece for the 30th Annual Myrna Brown Artist Competition, held in Denton, TX in May of 2015.

Ginevra Petrucci, flute.