Grey Fireworks (2022)

  • for violin and piano
  • Study on Helen Frankenthaler (#1)
  • ca. 4′ 30″ | commissioned by the I&I Foundation for Samuel Nebuyo (violin)

*score available soon.

PROGRAM NOTE: Grey Fireworks, is a work that is a response to a painting of the same name by the American abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler. The composition, like the painting, moves quickly through various moods, colors, and gestures. The immense motion, choice of colors, and seemingly improvisational burst of bright hues of the painting enabled the composition’s structure and capricious quality that certain gestures have in the work. Grey Fireworks was commissioned by the I & I Foundation for Samuel Nebyu (violin) and Charles Abramovic (piano) as part of the Summer Festival of Lucerne Festival 2022.

Premiere of Grey Fireworks in Sept. 2022
Photo © Patrick Hürlimann / Lucerne Festival
Grey Fireworks, 1982 by Helen Frankenthaler
Acrylic on canvas