Program Note for Bridge:

When Musical Bridges Around the World commissioned me to write a piece for their 20th anniversary, I thought back on my time spent attending concerts, turning pages for the professionals, and also performing and acting with my sister in the “Child Prodigy” concerts as a teen. Studying piano with Anya Grokhovski was a formative experience and I loved the immersion in her musical family. So for an anniversary, what better way than to examine the name of the organization itself, carefully chosen. I began to think about bridges, the building of them, the planning, architecture and daring human activity that connects. The vision that bridge-building entails, the needs and the symbolism of place. How bridges add to the beauty of their surroundings. How bridges become symbolic of the locations or cities they connect, which fit perfectly with the request to make the piece about homecoming, the journey to a deeply familiar place. For the musicians and myself a homecoming to San Antonio, Texas for the premiere, and for the (hopefully) cherished feeling for everyone coming home. The piece has a duration of about ten minutes.

Premiere recording of Bridge by Veronica Williams, mezzo-soprano; Nancy Zhao, violin; and Daniel Anastasio, piano