Merging Pods (2021)

Merging Pods is a reflection of life during the pandemic. Scored for a Beethoven-sized orchestra plus percussion, it opens as a mirror of life just as I remember it in February 2020. The whole orchestra plays together in a bustling manner. As March strikes, the piece becomes more and more confused, stopping and starting, slowly evaporating until a few remaining notes are tossed around the orchestra. The players often play the same notes at different times, as in life we are alone facing similar questions. “Pods” of instruments then form and expand, merging with others until we are all joyfully united, wiser for having made the journey. 

Merging Pods was commissioned by and dedicated to the Maryland Symphony and conductor Elizabeth Schulze, with whom I have had the privilege of collaborating with several times as pianist and composer. 

- Michael Stephen Brown, September 2021