Rachel Carson (1907 –1964), the American marine biologist, environmentalist and author, built a cottage on Southport Island, Maine in 1953. She spent countless summer hours exploring tidal pools, the evolving shoreline, the woods, plants and animals at all hours of the day and night, the ever changing patterns of life – all touched by the… Read More

Florence Price Dances in the Canebrakes Florence Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887 and died in Chicago, Illinois in 1953. She completed her work Dances in the Canebrakes in 1953, and it was later orchestrated by William Grant Still. The score calls for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons,… Read More

Daniel Sonenberg First Light – A Fanfare for Maine I was quite honored when the Portland Symphony Orchestra commissioned me, a transplanted New Yorker (but one who has now lived almost a third of his life in Maine) to compose a fanfare celebrating the state’s 200th birthday. In contemplating how to approach the piece, I… Read More

Jean Sibelius Finlandia, Op. 26 Jean Sibelius was born in Tavestehus, Finland in 1865 and died in Järvenpää in 1957. He composed Finlandia in 1899 and led the first performance at a benefit concert for the Press Pension Fund at the Swedish Theater in Helsinki the same year. Finlandia is scored for 2 flutes, 2… Read More

Ludwig van Beethoven Concerto for Violin & Orchestra in D Major, Op. 61             Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770 and died in Vienna in 1827. He composed this concerto in 1806, and it was performed the same year in Vienna with Franz Clement as soloist. The score calls for solo violin,… Read More