Sukkot Through Orion's Nebula
James Lee III (b. 1975)

THE STORY

Beginning his music studies at the age of 12, Dr. James Lee III quickly developed a talent for piano and composition, winning several awards for young composers before enrolling in the University of Michigan’s music program. His “tonal, but highly complex” sound (South Florida Classical Review) earned him a composing fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2002. Lee is currently Professor of Composition and Theory at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula was commissioned by the Sphinx Commissioning Consortium and premiered by Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony in 2011. The word “Sukkot” denotes the “Feast of Tabernacles”—one of three pilgrimage festivals in the Jewish faith—which serves to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. Lee uses imagery from the book of Revelations in the Christian Bible to depict the second coming of Christ, who returns to Earth from the throne of God, which some traditions believe exists in the Orion Nebula. The opening horn calls are meant to imitate the call of the shofar as it prepares the world. Dancing commences, followed by a middle section that depicts the Messiah descending to reside in the New Jerusalem, followed once more by the horn calls and a climactic celebration.

LISTEN FOR

• The use of asymmetrical rhythms, especially in the opening section, which thrust the work forward with a sense of exuberant joy
• The ethereal middle section, constructed of bustling percussion parts that form a sonic canvas over which the strings and woodwinds exult in the heavenly descent of the Messiah
• The return of the horn calls from the beginning, which initiate the build to a grand culmination 

INSTRUMENTATION

Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, strings