Program Notes

Winter Triptych musically explores John D. Barrow’s painting “Woods in Winter”. The work evokes the cold atmosphere of the painting’s foreground, juxtaposed with the warmth of the pine trees scattered throughout the middleground.

Rather than as a singular image, the painting is reimagined as a triptych—musical materials assemble themselves from the first movement into the second movement. In the final movement these materials are explored in finer, and more ephemeral detail as if areas of the painting are being zoomed in and out on.

Winter Triptych was commissioned by the Off The Dock Chamber Festival for their 2026 summer season.