Family Portrait

Family Portrait for woodwind quintet is my response to Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. My piece consists of five short vignettes that each depict a family member’s personality. In each movement, one instrument takes the lead and acts as a relative’s voice: the flute represents my fun-loving, active sister Eva; the oboe represents my sweet, reserved sister Olivia; the clarinet represents my jack-of-all-trades mother; the bassoon represents my passionate, supportive father; and the horn (my instrument) represents me. The modern American family, like the woodwind quintet, is often scorned for being dysfunctional and broken, but with this piece, I hope to prove that five individuals with completely different characters can form one harmonious whole.