My family and I were fortunate to have been thriving and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a time of suffering and transition for so many people. Like many musicians, I saw all live performances and in-person collaborations either canceled or postponed. In consequence, I suddenly had a lot of extra time on my hands. Some silver linings began to emerge: I could spend more time with my family and watch my girls grow. I also had the time to put together my first larger composition for violin and orchestra.

As I began serious work on Edge of a Dream in Spring of 2020, qualities of hope, joy and even elation emerged in my writing. Though putting notes on paper did not occur without some struggle and difficulty, my feeling as I was writing was in stark contrast to the ever-present turmoil and uncertainty which I and so many others had experienced during that time. I had the sensation that I was at the edge of something: a feeling of profound hope just out of reach, the beginning of something new, a significant turning point for myself and many others. Looking back, I now realize that I needed to express this intense, and at times forceful yearning during the pandemic to hold on to the dream of a better future.

Throughout much of the work, I employ several short motifs, juxtaposed as pixels, through which a larger structure emerges. In Part I, the three rising pitches in the strings at the outset of the movement, the insistent staccato figures in the woodwinds, and the two downward sweeping intervals in the solo violin are recombined and remixed. By contrast, Part II explores longer-form melody: after a chaotic climactic moment and short cadenza, the solo violin finds its way back home to the original tonality and peaceful character. Part III is, once again, almost entirely centered around a short motif consisting of the four notes of an arpeggiated 3rd inversion D major 7th chord. As the original descending intervallic motif from Part I returns, now in a somewhat more hopeful major tonality, the movement comes to an exuberant close.

The work is dedicated to my two daughters, Katia and Brielle.