secondhand smoke is based on a piece of prose I wrote in 2016. It is a story about someone realizing that she is an afterthought to a good friend.

I have tried to portray this image through the viola. The performer will play certain notes with extra bow pressure, causing other strings to sympathetically vibrate, giving a weak, empty drone effect, if the note that is played is perfectly in tune with the open string. In this way, the piece is both an exploration of a story but also a technical study.

secondhand smoke_Clarke

Cassandra Kaczor is a pianist-composer currently working in Chicago, Illinois. She has been formally trained in piano (18 years) and composition (5 years). She has had the pleasure of performing in well-known venues such as Severence Hall’s Reinberger Chamber Hall, in her native city of Cleveland, Ohio, the Academie International de Musique de Colombes in Colombes, France and Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

When she is not doing music-things, Kaczor enjoys practicing the martial art of Muay Thai, songwriting, long runs on Lake Michigan, ogling strangers' dogs while out walking, good drinks, good company, and chronically overthinking as much as possible.

Professional viola player, with a passion for contemporary music, graduate of both the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music