Celestial Harmonics

For Orchestra

Written: In-Progress
Duration: ca. 15'
for orchestra (exact instrumentation TBD, currently 2-2-2-2-2, 4-3-3-1-3 perc., timpani (4), 2 harps, keyboard, strings)
Commission-In-Progress
Upcoming World Premiere: Mostly Modern Orchestra, David Amado, conductor, Mostly Modern Festival, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 8, 2025.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

PROGRAM NOTE (In-Progress)

If stars and planets could make sounds, what would they sound like? That question sparked the creation of Celestial Harmonics. The word celestial has both astronomical and spiritual meanings — referring either to objects in outer space or to the heavens — and both interpretations deeply influenced this piece.

One of my main goals with Celestial Harmonics was to create a musical soundscape rich with harmonics, primarily played by string instruments. In music, harmonics are notes that sound higher and more delicate than the fundamental tone — almost ethereal. In fact, if we think of "heavenly" as something pure and beautiful, harmonics embody that quality. I also drew from the harmonic, or overtone, series: the natural sequence of tones whose frequencies are whole-number multiples of a fundamental pitch.

Though sound can't actually travel through space — since it’s nearly a perfect vacuum — scientists have found ways to translate non-audio data from space into sound. To make these inaudible frequencies accessible, they often transpose them many octaves higher or lower. The results can be hauntingly beautiful, eerily otherworldly, or even terrifying when rendered at very low frequencies. Celestial Harmonics focuses mostly on the more "heavenly" sounds inspired by this sonic translation of space data.

The piece unfolds in five connected movements, each about three minutes long. It’s structured as a dramatic narrative, weaving between fast and slow passages and shifting between high and low textures to create a continuous ebb and flow of tension and release.