Window Seat
PROGRAM NOTES
Window Seat reflects on the miracle of flight as a metaphor for wonder and perspective.
I have always been struck by flying. The act of a plane lifting from the ground and carrying us great distances in a short time continues to feel extraordinary. On a recent flight, I noticed that few passengers engaged with that moment, never looking out the window. I wasn’t judging; rather, it prompted me to consider how familiarity can diminish our sensitivity to moments of genuine wonder.
As children, we tend to experience the world with a heightened sense of curiosity and immediacy. Over time, routine and repetition can lessen that responsiveness. This piece is an effort to reconnect with that capacity for awe and wonder.
Musically, Window Seat alternates between moments of thrilling intensity and fervent anticipation, both of which reflect a childlike sense of wonder and longing. The music maintains a strong sense of forward motion, with quieter passages functioning less as repose and more as suspension—like passing through clouds before emerging again into open sky.
Music has a unique ability to help us recover something of that lost perspective—to remind us how it feels to be fully present, attentive, and amazed. Window Seat is an invitation to experience that feeling again, and perhaps to look out the window a little more often.