sleet

Sleet, recipient of the 2015 Juilliard Orchestra Competition, was composed in New York City and completed on March 17, 2015. The tone and structure of the composition are influenced by my previous experiences as a dancer with New York City Ballet as well as my time studying composition at Juilliard. There is an extraordinary energy at both institutions that I wanted to capture within the piece. Sleet incorporates a selection of characters or moods that enter and exit consecutively and are at times intertwined. For me, these moods depict elements of power, nerve, excitement, anticipation, fear, femininity, masculinity, and childlike exuberance. I drew my inspiration from the bubbly personalities and incredibly talented musicians at Juilliard and the buzz and adrenaline felt backstage before performances at NYCB and the extraordinary artists that I worked with there. The piece was first performed with the Juilliard Orchestra under the direction Jeffrey Milarsky on April 28, 2015 at Alice Tully Hall, NYC. Sleet is approximately 10 minutes long. – Aaron Severini