Hybris Overture has not yet been publicly performed.  During my residency at the Brevard Music Center in the summer of 2008, I was encouraged by Kevin Puts to write something “that jumps off the page” for the upcoming orchestra reading.  I took advantage of the opportunity, and wrote a preliminary version which was read by the BMC Orchestra, conducted by Steven Smith on August 4, 2008.  The following spring I began to revise the score heavily, and completed the current version in October of 2009.  On February 25, 2010 the Curtis Symphony Orchestra read and recorded Hybris under the baton of Joshua Gersen.

Program Note:

While reading Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols, I was struck by a description of the “Twin Heroes” myth.  Jung explains that the Twins represent “two sides of man’s nature.  One of them, Flesh, is acquiescent, mild, and without initiative; the other, Stump, is dynamic and rebellious.”  Hybris Overture attempts to depict this balance.  At times the orchestration is manic, juxtaposing the most delicate of textures with sudden surges of extroverted gestures.  Jung further explains that the “two heroes were invincible. There were no monsters left in heaven or on earth for them to overcome.  When the Twins killed one of the four animals that upheld the earth, they had overstepped all limits, and the time had come to stop their career.  The punishment they deserved was death.”  These themes inspired this composition, and as I reflected on the consequences of such excessive pride, I penned this tone poem with a humble heart.