Flute, viola and piano (trio version) or flute, violin, percussion, piano (quartet version)
Duration: 6’

Co-commissioned by L’Instant Donné and Young Concert Artists, Inc.

Trio version premiered May 2, 2022, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Anthony Trionfo, flute, Hsin-Yun Huang, viola, and Albert Cano Smit, piano

Quartet version premiered online May 2022, L’Instant Donné podcast

musica spolia seeks to capture the mischief, playfulness, and microcosmic world-building of childhood. I wrote this piece when living in Rome, Italy and found my own meanderings around the city as reminiscent of my dawn-til-dusk explorations of the desert canyon outside my house growing up in San Diego, California. The city of Rome is a pastel rendering of the brown and sage-green scraggly desert flora of my childhood. It is overgrown with spolia, like the campanula and ivy that spill out of the walls, statues and ornate treasures decorate the ancient monuments haphazardly, sometimes frantically. These found, recycled, or stolen materials and their misplaced, agitated energy find their way into this short piece, which I composed like my childhood hunter-gather self, collecting scraps and mementos from miniature adventures. This piece was co-commissioned by L’Instant Donné and Young Concert Artists, Inc., and exists as both a trio for flute, viola, and piano, and a quartet for flute, violin, piano, and percussion. It is dedicated with affection to Saori Furukawa and Anthony Trionfo.