Misereatur for String Orchestra (2014)

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Version created from the original title for unaccompanied mixed chorus, this work is an instrumental realization of the choral work. Written a month after the choral version, is was my way of closing the chapters of the old year (2013) and turning a new leaf; starting afresh for the new year (2014). The work was inspired by a scene of from HBO's television series The Tudors in which the pope began to pronounce a blessing on his onlookers with the following Latin text:

Misereatur vestris Omnipotens Deus,      May the Omnipotent God have mercy on you,

Et dimissis peccatis vestris omnibus,        And forgive you of all your sins,

Perducat vos Jesus Christus                       And may through Jesus Christ

Ad vitam aeternam. Amen.                        Lead you to life eternal. Amen.

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Upon further research of the origin and possible authenticity, I discovered that the text came from a collection of Apostolic blessings called "Ubis et Orbis" that is indeed used by the pope before he address the people in his annual appearance on the balcony of Vatican city.

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The sombre and solemn nature of the work reflected the yearning of my heart in retrospect to the year of old and the prospect of the new year.

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Premiered at the "Chamber Music in the Mountains" concert held at the St. Mark's Anglican Church in St. Andrew, Jamaica on Feburary 23, 2014, by a handpicked String Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Steven Woodham.

This work also became one of the winning pieces for the 2016 Cleveland Chamber Symphony Young and Emerging Composers Composition Competition. This resulted in its US premiere by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony under the direction of Maestro Steven Smith in their 2016 NEOSonicFest Young and Emerging Composers Concert series.