SEABIRDS AND STONES – Steve Heitzeg

Composer: Steve Heitzeg Instrumentation: Piano and Young People (percussion) Duration: Approx. 9 minutes Date Written: 2017 Premiered by: Tom Linker—piano Pia Banat, Yazmina Banat, Zadie Heitzeg, Kainalu Lazarus, Milo Spoonheim and Naia Spoonheim—stones Lakeville Area Arts Center Lakeville, MN January 7, 2018 Additional Information:  I composed “Seabirds and Stones” in memory of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, whose music I greatly admire. It is a simple and lyrical piece patterned after his beautiful “Farewell to Stromness.” “Seabirds and Stones” is scored for solo piano and young people with stones. Young people (approximately 4-6; it could certainly be more) stand in a circle around the piano. They each rub and tap two small stones together at various points throughout the piece. Since Sir Peter Maxwell Davies lived in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, I’ve included stones and bird-like sounds in the piano as symbolic metaphors for the stone circles of Stenness and Brodgar as well as for t