Commissioned by the LA Phil for the LA Phil New Music Group conducted by John Adams. Premiered at Walt Disney Concert Hall 1st of June 2019.
Instrumentation: Changeling is written for an ensemble of 15 players (1,1,0.0/0,1,0,0/Perc/Piano/3,2,2,3,1)
In European folklore a Changeling is a person, usually an infant, that has been swapped with a fairy. The folklore varies from place to place, although it is usually a mysterious and dark magic, and the stories centre around fears of unexpected changes in people closest to us.
Changeling plays with the idea of uncanny transformation and otherworldliness, but I am not attempting to portray a fairy child or changeling. I was thinking, instead, of how, as a child, various adults told me that I seemed like a changeling, and how magical and lovely the idea of having been enchanted by fairies in some way seemed to me then, in contrast with my discovery, as an adult, of the strange darkness of most changeling stories. So in that way, this piece is about parts of the self that we might choose to look away from, or draw strength from at different times in our lives.