Performance History

• 5 April 2016, Morse Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, New York.    
             Jacob Shack (viola) & Adam Rothenberg (piano)

Program Notes

Being a composer, like most things, comes with its ups and downs. One often spends months at work on a single project in the hopes that it will get performed. When this doesn’t work out however, its easy to feel down and give up, despite the fact that we know this is an irrational feeling in a moment of rejection. This piece, Escape Fantasy, re-works material from an orchestra piece entitled Escape Everything, which is one piece that I personally feel strongly about, but has ultimately amounted to nothing thus far.

Writing this piece helped me overcome this feeling of rejection by allowing me to explore the musical material from Escape Everything once more. My hope was to assert it’s value and importance for, if no one else, than at least myself. Throughout Escape Fantasy, the music constantly tries to break free from its original dark and brooding mood, and in the end is an emotional journey from a place of self-doubt to a place of self- affirmation. The piece was written for and premiered by my good friend Jacob Shack.