Solar Rays for Piano, Violin and Violoncello

Solar Rays for Piano, Violin and ‘Cello originally was conceived as a Jazz song, but later re-imagined as a classical Piano Trio with the violin part taking the role of the singer. The title “Solar Rays” came from an idea that I had when I was writing the song of two people in love, lying down in a vast green field, looking up at the sun in the clear sky, feeling the heat and seeing the clear light of the sun, which reinforced the love that they had for each other. 

The work retains the structure of a Jazz song, where after the theme is heard, you hear solos from each instrument, one after the other. Each solo has a personality all its own. The Violin solo is expressionistic and virtuosic, the ‘Cello solo is passionate and the Piano solo is monumental. Even though all the notes of the solos are written-out, they have an improvisational feel to them. After the solos, the violin “singer” returns to the stage with a variation of the song theme, and then we hear a short coda to bring the work to a resounding finale. 

Solar Rays is a true crossover or "genre-busting" work, with a classical Piano Trio (Piano, Violin and 'Cello) version and a Jazz Big Band version that was premiered by the CompCord Big Band in New York in 2018. Both versions bring out different aspects of the music. Solar Rays was awarded a Silver Medal in the 2018 Global Music Awards and was a Finalist in the 2019-2020 American Prize in the Instrumental Chamber Music category.

The video performance was the U.S. premiere in Chicago by the Steinway Artist, Susan Merdinger, piano, the violinist Michaela Paetsch and the 'cellist, Thor S. Sigurdson. The audio performance was by Amy Lee, piano, Ryan Shannon, violin and Christopher Homick, 'cello as part of a concert by The Boston New Music Initiative.