You Are Not Alone

Description

Video

Instrumentation

flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano

Movements

I. You are not alone.
II. You have proven you have no idea what no means
III. Let us peal back that moment
IV. Let us walk into the place

Program Notes

I was asked by both Jack and Zoe Johnstone and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford to write a new chamber piece for them. The Johnstones set me up with writer Scott Woods and the Women Composers Festival had me working with The Nouveau Classical Project.
Both Scott and I write about subjects that are political (which is probably why Jack and Zoe paired us together), so we brainstormed what kind of piece we would write together.

It was around this time that Christine Blasey Ford gave her statement on how Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. For my own well-being I couldn’t watch or listen to the hearings.

I told Scott that these hearings deflated and dehumanized me to my core. I couldn’t understand why women are not believed. Why do we women have to quantify our experiences and prove our human worth? And with this in mind, Scott wrote his poem.