CIty beautiful (2021)
for Violin, cello, and piano
Duration: 15 minutes
Premiere: September 15, 2021, Lincoln Trio, Ravinia Music Festival
City Beautiful is a triptych for chamber ensemble inspired by Chicago’s iconic architecture and the City Beautiful movement of the late 19th century—a philosophy that believed urban beauty could promote civic virtue and human flourishing. Each movement pays tribute to a visionary architect and one of their landmark structures. The first, Aqua, captures the fluid, modern elegance of Jeanne Gang’s Aqua Tower, with music shaped by the building’s graceful, water-like design. The second, Prairie, is a chaconne inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, reflecting the symmetry, space, and quiet complexity of his Prairie School style. The final movement, Burnham, honors Daniel Burnham and the Beaux-Arts grandeur of Union Station, evoking the neoclassical-meets-modern energy and the enduring bustle of this historic hub. Together, these movements are a musical love letter to the architectural soul of Chicago.