Serenade

Serenade was commissioned by the Michigan State University College of Music, James Forger, Dean; and Wharton Center for Performing Arts, Michael Brand, Executive Director. It is dedicated to Clifton and Dolores Wharton, who often described the arts as a humanizing, unifying force in our world, bringing people together across vast cultural, social, economic and geographic divisions.

Serenade honors their transformational leadership for the performing arts during Dr. Wharton’s service as the 14th president of Michigan State University and commemorates the first 25 years of Wharton Center for Performing Arts. The text for the work was derived from a variety of poems by Percy B. Shelley (1792-1822) as suggested by Mrs. Wharton. The poems used are: Asia: From Prometheus Unbound; Good-Night; Hymn to Intellectual Beauty; Invocation; Love’s Philosophy; Music, When Soft Voices Die; Mutability.

Duration ca. 25 minutes.