I'm pleased to announce the first American performances of a movement for
symphonic strings, ELEGY.  This nine-minute movement will be done in New
York City by New York Pro Arte on March 22nd (Raffael Adler, cond.) and in
San Francisco on April 3rd by the Women's Philharmonic (Apo Hsu, cond.).
Other American and European performances are on tap.  (It has been recorded
by the Czech Radio Philharmonic for a CD of my orchestral music to be
released by Arabesque this fall.)

ELEGY is all song and luxuriant harmony with very flexible phrasing in a
slow tempo.  It was written in memory of my aunt, a brave and vibrant woman
who died in fall 1997 at much too young an age.  In this piece I've tried
to speak from my heart; those who expect my music always to be rhythmically
crisp, frontal and glossy, will find a change of pace here.  (It maintains
a flowing yet intense 4/4 or 5/4 throughout.)

One final note:  Although ELEGY freestands as a movement for independent
programming, it's also the middle movement of a new 3-movement work for
symphonic strings:  REMEMBER ME [ Ghosts, Elegy, Dancin' over my grave], c.
35:00.  I got to the double bar of the third movement on Sunday afternoon
(a jazz-based, almost demonic passacaglia), and the piece as a whole will
be ready to circulate this spring.

Judith Lang Zaimont
Professor of Composition
School of Music - University of Minnesota
WEBsite: http://209.46.94.163/jzaimont/