"I hope this finds you well"
for orchestra 
(2022)

Commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony as part of the First Music program.

2.2.2.2, 4.2.3.1, timp+3 perc, piano, strings

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected humanity in numerous ways; the physical, physiological, mental, psychological, and emotional tolls that the pandemic has created and exacerbated have become great sources of stress and anxiety for many, including myself. While sources of global, substantial, and sustainable healing are difficult to find, I always remind myself and the people in my life
that empathy always endures; we were and are never alone in experiencing the affliction that the pandemic and other calamities inflicted on each of us. I hope this finds you well is a work for orchestra based on a newfound practice in empathy and solace I began shortly after the pandemic ensued; I started composing texts and e-mails to friends, colleagues, mentors, and family with the phrase “I hope this finds you well.” It was (and is) the hope that this phrase, while merely an idiom, would provide some compassion to its reader in a time of tumult. In turn, I hope that this music provides some compassion to its listener in any given time of tumult.

Premiered on 11.20.2022
Carnegie Hall, New York, NY.
New York Youth Symphony
Michael Repper, conductor

This recording is a NYYS rehearsal recording at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York, NY. It is NOT the premiere recording in Carnegie Hall

"I hope this finds you well" for orchestra - (2022)

pianist, banjoist, composer
PHL → BOS → A2 → PHL
👨‍🎓 NEC | UMich 
💼 TempleU (Boyer) | WCUPA (Wells)

"I hope this finds you well" for orchestra - (2022)

Ari Sussman