SAUDADE

for cello & piano | 3’40” | 2018

Instrumentation - Cello & Piano

Winner of the Selection for Classical Work in the MiddleWestern Voice 2019 Publication

Premiered and recorded by Allison Chambers (cello) and Dan VanZeeland (piano) in the spring of 2019 at Elmhurst University.

Later revised and recorded by Adela Skowronski (cello) and Dan VanZeeland (piano).

Difficulty

Intermediate

Program Note

SAUDADE is a word of Portuguese origin, describing a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia. The cello serves as the wailing, singing spirit through this work, and the piano the palette of colors surrounding it. They work in tandem, supporting one another and coming into conflict at times, as well. The cello here feels that sense of longing, almost reaching for a resolution, a resolution it does not settle into. This work, my Opus 1, is dedicated to my father who passed in October of 2018.