Commissioned by New Horizons Music in 2021 with funds from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and premiered by the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble in May 2022. Amy's brief was to respond to the idea of what the term "symphonic" could mean in the 21st-century in a chamber music context. This commission is part of NHM's ongoing project "Towards a new symphonic tradition". The performers on the recording are the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble conducted by Sinead Hayes.

Amy writes about the piece:
"The piece considers the mindset of the performer during a performance. Specifically, the piece considers flow state, a psychological term first coined by the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikzsentmihalyi in 1975. A flow state can be defined as a sort of effortless attention, which happens when players are completely absorbed in the music. The listening experience can also be enhanced if a state of flow can be found, and this was something that influenced the trajectory of the composition. The result is a piece that, for want of a better word, "flows". The music is largely fluid, and at times hypnotic, with an emphasis on gradual change.

Flow State II (alto flute, bass clarinet, piano, violin, cello)

Composer Amy Rooney

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