I. Storm
II. Drowning
III. Soaring
Water has always fascinated me - its power, its various forms, its beauty. I have always loved and feared water. The flood of 2008 reminded me of the flood of 1993, when I came back to Iowa City to start my graduate work. I was born and raised here and the Iowa River, the School of Music, Hancher Auditorium, City Park, have all been part of the landscape of my childhood. In writing Water Spirit, a violin concerto in three movements, I could not help but think about the floods, the disruption it has caused to the University of Iowa, but also how the rebuilding signals a new beginning, a new energy, a new start, as if a cleansing after a thunderstorm. The movements, Storm, Drowning and Soaring, represent the events of the flood: destruction, sorrow and renewal.
