In 2023, four young composers collaborated virtually with teaching artist Kristin Vining to create and orchestrate original compositions. These works were performed by the Walla Walla Symphony at the Celebration of Music concert on Sunday, October 1, 2023, in honor of our late Music Director & Conductor, Yaacov Bergman.

Composer Submissions

Zephyrus Axel, a recent homeschooled high school graduate, plans to attend Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) after a gap year spent learning to play the French horn, expanding their knowledge of languages, and animating a feature film, among other things. Zephyr has loved the gift of the Symphony's Spark for many years, and, grateful for opportunities to compose full orchestral compositions, they aspire to continue scoring pieces that will become soundtracks for their original films in years to come. This was Zephyr’s eighth Spark Session.

"Contemplating crashing Pacific waves was the direct inspiration for my piece 'Sea's Edge,' the cyclical aspect of the tides, bringing continuous change yet always remaining constant as well. My focus was on motion, and I was interested in how I might create an atmosphere or mood of celebration based on the hope and promise of daily renewal. Maybe as antidote to so much darkness in our world, I wanted to write a bright song simply to bring happiness to myself and, I hope, to others."

Lily Franklin is a freshman at Gonzaga University. She has participated in SPARK! for the past three years, and is very excited for this opportunity to share her work. Outside of SPARK!, she has underscored a few scenes for Wa-Hi’s 2021 production of "A Wrinkle in Time," and is composing music for their upcoming production of "Twelfth Night."

"Last summer, fellow SPARK! composer Ava Kirtley and I collaborated on some movements to represent different muses of Greek mythology. We started exploring musical themes and instruments that we might connect with each character. In 'Sing, Muse,' I wrote original lyrics for an opening number of a musical that reimagines several existing stories surrounding the muses."

Charis Ruybalid is a seventh grade homeschool student who fell in love with creating her own melodies at the piano when she was 5 and started formal piano lessons at age 7. She has studied dance since age 4 and has been taking class at the Dance Center of Walla Walla since age 5. Outside of music and dance, Charis enjoys learning about all kinds of animals.

“My siblings and I were playing outside when we heard thunder. It started dripping rain, and when the lightning started, our parents called us all inside. We didn’t want to go inside because we were so excited, but once we were indoors, we kept moving from room to room in our house yelling to each other, ‘Hey, there’s lightning over here!’ My orchestral composition is inspired by this memorable storm. I wanted to express the surprise of lightning through my music with dramatic dynamic contrasts and exciting symphonic sounds.”

Sabine Wong-Boulanger is currently a Senior at Weston McEwen High School who loves to build poignant tales through catchy melodies and improvisation.

"Every now and then when my mother talks about her childhood, there is always one recurring memory about her encounter with fireflies. In the summers, she and her siblings would play for hours outside, typically noting how there were no 'video games' or 'high-tech devices' to entertain them at the time. Then, one night, when the day had faded, she noticed these small bugs beginning to glow: fireflies. Despite being so tiny, their light touched almost every blade of her lawn's grass, and she has never forgotten that night since. However, at the end of this story, she always notes that she has never seen a firefly since then.

Now, whenever I hear this story, I realize that I have, in fact, never seen a firefly in person. Only on the internet, a technology that did not exist when my mother was a child, could I find these elusive insects. It makes me wonder where these fireflies have gone, and whether our artificial light has snuffed out theirs. That was the inspiration behind this composition."