AMERIGO | Violin + Piano | Full Performance | Brendon Elliott + Thomas Steigerwald | 50 State Sonata

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Dedicated to the life and work of John Kendall and commissioned by one violinist in each state in the US in 2015 as part of the 50 State Sonata Project, this sonata seeks to represent our country, paying special attention to each of its time zones while also bringing a fiercely-loved and possibly somewhat worn form into the 21st century.
Amerigo contains six movements, the prologue and the epilogue representing in miniature our dear non-contiguous states while the larger movements in between cast shadows on the aura and energy of the Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern Time Zones.
Each movement’s name is borrowed from a city within its timezone. Though chosen for the beauty of the city’s name, a little wikipedia research into the histories of the cities I chose most certainly lent me a salient point of view to the eventual tone and form of the material. My deep thanks to everyone who have helped shape this piece; we’ve done something big and beautiful here: helping the world feel a little smaller and making some music along the way.