Where Ocean Meets Sky

Year Composed:	2025
Instrumentation:	2.2.2.2/4.3.3.1/timp+3 perc/hp/strings
Duration	18 minutes

I.	Prelude - Horizons
II.	A Good Day For Sailing

Program Notes

This work derives its title from a children's picture book called Ocean Meets Sky, by the Canadian author-illustrator duo Eric and Terry Fan (known as the Fan Brothers.) As a recent father whose son had just endured a grueling medical journey, this book for young readers - with its soaring imagery and melancholic undertone that touches the heart without being mawkish or moralistic - resonated profoundly with my sensibilities. When approached by Eric Prodger (principal bass trombonist of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra) about the possibility of creating a new work for bass trombone and large ensemble, one that would fully explore the instrument's lyrical and virtuosic capabilities and that would appeal to a large number of players, I immediately imagined a work that would be steeped in a sense of wonder and joy. Ocean Meets Sky - a 300-word book I have now read out loud countless times to my surprisingly attentive toddler - became an appropriate source of inspiration and a companion piece for this musical journey.

The first movement ("Prelude: Horizons") is a meditation on the fantastical image evoked by the title. Against the backdrop of the orchestra's deep, oceanic rumblings emerges a long, arching soliloquy for bass trombone - dark, lush, and full of colouristic potential. The tempo picks up midway through with a flowing passage suggestive of sunlit, coastal spaces, before returning to the mysterious atmosphere of the opening.

The second movement ("A Good Day For Sailing"), which can function as a standalone piece, weds a Rondo-esque form with a distinctively cinematic palette whose rhythms, harmonic progressions, and cadences are informed to some extent by the operatic tradition of musical storytelling in film. Finn, the story's protagonist, dreams of building a boat to honour his late grandfather, a nautical captain. When he falls asleep belowdecks, he imagines sailing off on a magnificent voyage. All of Finn's encounters are depicted musically: from the great, golden fish that serves as Finn's guide (represented by a lilting chorale) to the library islands overseen by hundreds of "bookish birds" (a spirited, swashbuckling fugue) and the sea of dancing moon jellies (a serene, jazz-tinged vista atop of which the soloist effortlessly glides). When Finn's boat eventually lifts from the water ("or had the water fallen away?"), the orchestra splits from a single pitch, migrating polytonally towards both high and low registers. After a transcendent climax, the music resolves into a simple, diatonic aria in C major, signifying Finn's symbolic farewell to his grandfather.

I am overwhelmingly grateful to the consortium of bass trombonists who contributed their support toward the creation of this work, and to Eric Prodger for initiating this proposal and placing his faith in my abilities. Where Ocean Meets Sky is dedicated to Jeff Hall.

Commissions and Awards

• Eric Prodger (lead commissioner) and Isabelle Lavoie (co-commissioner) arranged a consortium of approximately 50 performers to commission this work.