Meditations on Matthew Shepard

Meditations on Matthew Shepard

If you use your senses is a new cycle for tenor, bassoon, and piano that acts as a sensory imagining of the final moments of Matthew Shepard, a college boy who became fatal victim of homophobia. The piece depicts how it might feel to experience death the way he did: as a gradual removal of the senses which brings into focus sensations, memories, dreams, yearnings, and pain.

The tenor and bassoon are treated as equal soloists, showcasing a myriad of colors and techniques as well as the interesting effects that arise from blending the two. Throughout the cycle, the bassoon plays many roles: nature, the subconscious, a lover, and a grieving mother, utilizing multiphonics, flutter-tongue, and trills.

We hope these meditations encourage reflection on the nature of life and death, the power of love and hatred, and the sometimes tenuous bonds between us and our world.

Performers