202-456-1111

Description

Laura Kaminsky presents 202-456-1111, for flute and piano.

From the composer:

‘202-456-1111. The public access phone number for The White House. Since January 2017, one can no longer leave a message. What does this say about the relationship between the current President and his citizenry? The election results of November 2016 were an alarming wake-up to the country as a whole, no matter which side of the divide one is on. Like many, I am afraid of the new direction our government has taken, and mightily concerned about the content and the quality of public discourse.

These worries were foremost in my mind as I began composing. One day, after an unsuccessful attempt to leave a message of dissent on the White House line, I had a flash – I would use that phone number as source material for the duo – and assigned pitches to each number, with the ‘0’ represented as a rest. Suddenly, I had focus. The resulting work, 202-456-1111, is in one movement, and reveals the many different emotions of an uneasy citizen at the dawn of a new political era.’

Duration: 10′. For advanced players.

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