no last days, only more tomorrows (2023)
Recording will be available soon!
commissioned by the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra as the Winner of the 2022 IPO Classical Evolve Composer Competition
two oboes, two horns, and string orchestra
Duration: c. 10 minutes
Performances:
Premiere by the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Stilian Kirov on April 13, 2024, at Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL.
“Huỳnh has an ear for arresting timbres and textures: from the rustling opening and glassy-toned sawing figures passing among string soli, to slightly out-of-sync repeating figures near the middle, building to acrescendolike a jet taking off.”
Reviews:
“...the piece migrates into a section evoking Krzysztof Penderecki’s apocalyptic ‘Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima,’ strings buzzing like wasps before wafting away... Huỳnh is ... a gifted writer for orchestra...”
Program Note:
In recent years, it feels as though global tragedy has become a daily phenomenon that we are unable to escape. For myself, these realities have been constantly in dissonance with my desire to create. How can we create art as the world collapses? How do we move on when others are still suffering? And how do we live? I once heard the title of this piece, no last days, only more tomorrows, while at a coffee shop composing. Just a small eavesdropped quote that has stuck with me since, and as of late it has almost become a personal mantra. As outwardly optimistic as the quote might seem, I interpret these words, perhaps naïvely, to represent persistence. And so as I return to my daily existential questions, I remind myself that there are no last days, but only more tomorrows. We persist because we must. We persist because it’s the only thing we can do.