Vers l’avenir (French for Toward the Future) was a commission from Saint Anselm College (Manchester, New Hampshire) for the inauguration of its tenth president. The title, which echoed the college’s recently-announced Faith in the Future campaign, announces the mood of the piece: energetic, festive, with open and bold harmonies, but also incorporating more lyrical, reflective sections.

I rarely set out to emulate a particular composer, but familiar voices or sounds do often emerge. To me, this piece has echoes of Giovanni Gabrieli, Leoš Jana�ček, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky , Eric Ewazen, and Sonny Rollins, among others.