Heloha Okchamali (Blue Thunder)

for Piano and Clarinet - 25'
Commissioned by Meraki.
Premiered September 14, 2019

Heloha Okchamali (Blue Thunder) is a work composed about my son, Heloha, who's name means Thunder in the Chickasaw language. His favorite color is blue (okchamali). This is my first work composed about a specific person and the vision of the work came to me while watching Heloha at a playground in the summer of 2018.

Starting with the third movement, the title and concept comes from the fun I have calling Heloha my little trickster. He constantly imitates the speed of Catboy from PJ Masks and Flash from DC Comics, and loves pretending to be a super hero. The second movement is a very nostalgic expression of our precious sleep time and features Chickasaw melodies I sing to him as he rests. The first movement is the fun I had attaching Marvel characters to his constant adventures in life and also contains traditional songs I sing to him.

“Super Cat Speed!!”

This commission was made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program,
with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.