Sunflowers & Roses

My friend Angelica “Geli” Gonzalez (currently a strings teacher with Omaha Public Schools) used to work as a florist. In July of 2019, she posted the quote, “Broke: We go together like peanut butter and jelly. Woke: We go together like sunflowers and roses.” And posted an original bouquet of the latter combination. It was something that I’d never seen in real life before and had only ever seen captured in old water-color paintings that looked as if they belonged on a Louisa May Alcott cover. Beautiful, yet vibrantly simple—the same thoughts that go through my mind with any flute and clarinet chamber piece. This was the concept that I attempted to embody through Sunflowers & Roses.

Sunflowers & Roses was commissioned by BME Kristen Lee in May of 2019 and was premiered at her last flute recital that October at the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Unfortunately, due to technological difficulties, a live recording was unable to be made. A recording of the piece is scheduled for early 2020. A midi recording of the piece can be found on YouTube.