Heaven's Garden

Heaven’s Garden exists through the persistence of memory, my memory, and both my lived and yet lived experiences. Started on November 21st 2023, Heaven’s Garden was born from an unrelenting knowing, a sense of impossible empathy, and something deeply engrained within myself as part of my artistic expression. This work presents as one long moment of honesty, a flower pot continually watered day after day, which has remained unobstructed by life and its impermanence, yet entirely moved and transformed by those very things.

Context and Background

Engaging in a tradition thousands of years old, the presentation of this piece imparts and actively practices the unspoken and unwritten passing down of deeply personal music, technique, and poetry, all fundamental aspects of music for thousands of years. Through this conscious effort, Heaven’s Garden develops and grows through a natural flow between what has come before, what occurs now, and what has yet to be seen and heard.

‍

Inspired and compelled following events of the Armenian Genocide, the narrative of Heaven’s Garden draws on a deeply personal message of tragedy and hope, of what a child must have experienced to be alone in the dead of night, as our lives and memories begin in childhood, and continue to shape us so long as we live.

Structure and Scoring

Heaven's Garden evolves over the course of 43 minutes as one long continuous work. Written for Soprano, Bass-Baritone, Harp, and String Orchestra, this piece does a lot within the constrains of its orchestration, and thus, requires a concise group of strings players recommended at 54442 or more, not less.

Key Features

• Continuous narrative arc – Interweaving of Armenian and English text and poetry both by the composer and by known and unknown Armenian poets and liturgists.
• Text painting – A rich narrative expressing loss and hope, painted through each phrase of the vocalists, and mirrored in the harmonic language of the orchestra.

Performance Considerations

Ahead of performing:
This piece involves unmetered solo vocal music at the same time as steady metered music. As well, strings players are expected to perform extended techniques such as stomping of the feet, and the tapping of instruments.

• Requires efficient rehearsal time to coordinate with the vocalists and the orchestra.
• Works well as a standalone piece for half of a concert.

Final Thoughts

Heaven's Garden for Soprano, Bass-Baritone, Harp, and String Orchestra exists as a deeply personal work that is in dialogue with what has come before, and what will follow.