Info: Composition finished 2023, approx. duration 6 min, for orchestra.
Program notes: Misty Oasis in Scorching Heat was inspired by a backpacking trip we took near Mt. Rainier in a heat wave during forest fires. You could hear the rumbling of glaciers melting and rivers roaring. It was very hot but there was a little waterfall that was cooler, the “misty oasis.” The temperature change between the waterfall and the air around it was very sudden, like walking out of an oven into a refrigerator! I try to depict the different temperatures and sudden changes through my music: starting out near the waterfall, where birds chirp and it is misty and cool; then the section that represents when my brother’s leg got cut deeply and we had to hike out; the slower hike out, more plodding in the heat and smoke; and the big ending with material from almost every section all fitting together at the same time.
Performances: May 18, 2023 premiere, Benaroya Hall, Seattle Symphony, conductor Sunny Xia.