Program Note

During a summer 2020 trip up the U.S. East Coast, I made a stop for lunch in Knoxville, Tennessee, and was taken by how beautiful of a city it was. The buildings looked iconic of the American south, the green spaces were lush and verdant, and the trees canopied perfectly over the streets. It seemed like a brief diversion from the uncertainty of the future at the time.

Although I began this piece with that imagery in mind, it was not until the following year when I moved across the country to Reno that I began to fully realize the concept of this piece. For so long, I had wanted to move out west and would imagine how much more ideal my life would be out here—specifically whenever my obligations in New York City became overwhelming. But when I actually got to Nevada, I had an uncomfortable realization: although I was exactly where my mind had escaped to all those years, the reality of living here was much different from how I idealized it. Just as in New York, there are things that I love about Reno, and things that I don’t.

When I returned to this piece, I thought back on my stop in Knoxville and the impression it left on me, and began to wonder about the objectivity of that memory. Was it an actual snapshot of the place itself or perhaps a reflection of my wish at the time for an escape?

May 2022. Temecula, CA.