Siruin in the Air

PROGRAM NOTE

I write this piece in memory of violinist Niuris Dorta Naranjo. Niuris
was a friend of mine in college and the best violinist of our
generation. She was truly gifted, practiced the violin without end,
and had the most genuine smile and gentle soul. She died tragically at
age 25 due to a car accident, but her memory and legacy still remain.

For the creation of this piece I used the letters of her full name and
the numbers of the date of composition and premiere of the last piece
she recorded, José White’s Violin Concerto in F# minor, to generate
the pitch material of the composition. Character wise, I had three
images in mind: lyricism, virtuosic playing, and echoes produced by
humming while playing, which the violinist does at certain moments in
the piece. This last image was inspired by a phrase I read in an
article about Niuris that reads, “Niuris no ha muerto, ella está en
el aire”(“Niuris has not died, she is in the air”).

The piece is also written for violinist Tiani Butts, and it is
composed for the occasion of the first Virtual Artist Partnerships
Program created by the Gabriela
Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music.

-Ivette Herryman Rodríguez