Program Note: The musical material in this piece is based on the calls of the Carolina Wren (South Carolina state bird). Amidst the turmoil we’ve all experienced in 2020, I’ve considered the freedom a bird must feel to be able to peacefully soar above it all. My goal for this piece is to depict that sense of optimistic freedom.

Seth Custer is an active composer, performer, clinician, and adjudicator, and his music is heard across the United States. An Associate Professor, he is head of the Department of Music Theory, Composition, and Technology at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, where he has taught since 2009. Since 2014 Seth has served as the General Director for Junior Composers Summer Programs, a youth composition program that is based in Minneapolis, MN.