Portraits is a set of tributes to the memories of musicians who were close to me, and close to the players of the Da Capo Chamber Players, who commissioned this work for their 50th anniversary. The portraits are of: Nicholas Maw; Milton Babbitt; David Golub; George Perle; Laura Flax.

For the composers' portraits, I incorporated aspects of their musical personalities into their tributes; for the tribute to pianist David Golub, I created a portrait based on a Schubert impromptu that he frequently played as an encore; for the clarinetist Laura Flax, who was a longtime member of Da Capo, I composed a movement in which the clarinet is the soloist, in an intimate meditation that brings the entire work to a close.

This is a deeply personal project, but one that I hope will speak to the larger musical community, many of whom who knew and loved these musicians.