whatchya got [Sweet Water prints]

Artist Michelle Nordmeyer made "Work with Whatchya Got" in pandemic lockdown, using found-objects to express the idea of “limitation.” I've taken Michelle's work and used the timbres of the orchestra to echo the beautifully tactile quality of the layered visual objects: a slowly blossoming, misshapen chorale for muted violins; incisive, broken-sounding percussion; muted and out-of-tune brass.

There are also dramatic breakthroughs and a nostalgic, faded epilogue that echo the human struggle against limitation, whether from the pandemic, or from disenfranchisement and poverty, as Michelle and I discussed during our visit to the Sweet Water Foundation in 2019.

St. James Cathedral, Chicago IL, September 25, 2021