Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts

Moores School Percussion Ensemble I Concert: Obscure Sorrows

Monday, April 28, 2025

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

For her composition series The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, composer Annika Socolofsky took inspiration from the book of the same title by John Koenig, in which the author has coined new terms for familiar emotions not yet described in language. The percussion quartet from her series draws on the word “ambedo,” or “a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee.” Socolofsky’s evocative work serves in turn as inspiration for Obscure Sorrows, a program of new percussion ensemble works tinged with allusions to spirituality, ephemerality, melancholy, and altered states. Performed by the Moores School Percussion Ensemble I, the evening features guest soloist Eunghee Cho, MSM professor of cello, for Tan Dun’s breathtaking Elegy: Snow in June. The program includes Nina C. Young’s Etched in Sand, Michael Burritt’s Blue Soul, Ivan Trevino’s Trance I, and John Psathas’ White Feather.

To learn more about the Moores School Percussion Ensembles, please visit: uh.edu/kgmca/music/ensembles/percussion 

PROGRAM

Annika Socolofsky: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: ambedo
Nina C. Young: Etched in Sand
Tan Dun: Elegy: Snow in June
Michael Burritt: Blue Soul
Ivan Trevino: Trance I
John Psathas: White Feather

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