On Wings of Light (2010)
Composer note:
On Wings of Light began its life as a work for 4 trumpets and women’s voices, written for the opening of New York City’s Rose Center for Earth and Space at the Museum of Natural History in 2000. I expanded and transcribed it for orchestra to honor Gerard Schwartz’s tenure at Seattle Symphony in 2010. It is inspired by this quote by scientist and philosopher Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777) —
“I take on wings of light and soar throughout all spaces of the heavens. I never come far enough and the desire always grows to go still farther. This luminous Arch, the Milky Way, which stretches all around the firmament and decorates the world like a ring studded with gems, roused in me astonishment and wonderment.”
— Aaron Jay Kernis