Burning Day (alto sax)

Burning Day (2019), commissioned by saxophonist Giovanna Virgil, is a piece about the life cycle of a phoenix. The work does not trace the mythological creature’s death and rebirth exactly, but rather explores the idea that the phoenix symbolizes both destruction and renewal. There is something really poignant about a grand and beautiful animal bursting into flame and becoming a grey and papery ash, a feeling that humans experience as we move through different stages of life, both ones that build us up to our highest potential and those that feel like the end. In the latter case, we look to find how we may be reborn from our own ashes.