Blissful Insolence

Suleiman - The Wanderer Commissioned by and composed for Orlando Cela and the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, The Wanderer is written in two parts – “gold clouds at the edge of eternity” and “into the stream of fractured reveries.” The entirety of the first part is created using a 16-note melody that unfolds almost like a theme and variations. Sudden interruptions of this process occur in the vibraphone and string overpressure – another world attempts to break through, but can’t. Only at the very end of part one does it succeed, resulting in part two. In this movement, we enter a darkened room twinkling with small lights, resonance, and colors. It is a world of play and daydreams. A chord here, a creak there, rhythm, bursts of light, half-memories trying to come into being. — Ryan Suleiman