The Happiness of Two Salmon Returning Home
violin and viola
duration: 11’15”
Commissioned by Music on the Strait for James Garlick and Richard O’Neill with support from Paul L. King. Premiered on August 19, 2023 at Field Arts and Events Hall, Port Angeles, WA.
A piece about the feeling of returning to a home, spiritual or ancestral, you’ve never been to, “The Happiness of Two Salmon Returning Home” imagines the journey of the first two salmon to swim up the Elwha River in Washington State to their traditional spawning grounds after two damns were removed in 2011-2014. And at the same time, the piece draws from memories of my brother and my first trip to my mother’s home town of Tartu, Estonia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Livestream of the premiere performance: