September Red (2021)

Commissioned by Nick Photinos

Duration

3 minutes

Instrumentation

Cello

First Performance

July 19, 2021 at MASS MoCA
Composer: Dayton Kinney
Cello: Nick Photinos

Program Notes

September Red was commissioned by four-time Grammy winning cellist and co-founder of Eight Blackbird Nick Photinos through the Georgia Runoff Commissioning Project as part of his project Raise that is dedicated to his mother Janet Photinos, an avid amateur musician who raised him as a single parent and who recently passed away in 2018. This personal collection of works plays homage to the people who raised us and greatly influenced us.

My compositional contribution is September Red, which is inspired by mother who greatly sacrificed for our family. Through working long shifts and odd jobs while attending college and nursing school when I was young, she instilled a strong work ethic and was a strong female figure in my life. As a nurse, she continued working long shifts to grant me the ability to today be a composer and musician. Together, my journey into classical music was also our journey into the music world with many adventures and travels. September Red references one of my mother’s favorite songs that I would catch her dancing to while she vacuumed the house.