Shadows of Clouds was written for the inaugural Chigiana Summer Composition Program with Richard Danielpour and the Carpe Diem String Quartet.

The piece is a reflection on what it means to live in a post-nuclear age, with global annihilation only a few political missteps away. Portraits of terror and confusion are contrasted with desolate, radioactive landscapes, bookended by a brief “meditation” on either end to ground the ear and ease the listener into and out of the world of the piece.