PRISM Quartet and Melissa Aldana perform "Reflections" by Aldana

PRISM Quartet and Melissa Aldana Reflections by Melissa Aldana (world premiere) DiMenna Center for Classical Music New York City September 15, 2021 Melissa Aldana: “Reflections is about transformation, a personal meditation on the stages of growth I experienced, and saw the world experience, over the course of the pandemic. My isolation and stillness enabled me to observe, clearly and for the first time in many years, the progression of the seasons, changes in the color of leaves, how they would fall just to be reborn stronger and more beautiful. My personal journey has been similar, as I worked though feelings of sadness, confusion, frustration, serenity, happiness and slowly transformed into the person I am today. I also wanted to know how other artists were expressing their feelings about nature, love, sadness, nostalgia, life… So I revisited some of my favorite poems by Julio Cortazar and Pablo Neruda, poems that resonate deeply with me and provided inspiration for my composition.” Acknowledgements Reflections was commissioned with generous support from the William Penn Foundation. This program is made possible with generous support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.