Millikan Symposium Concert

"My brother, UNC Professor Robert Millikan, passed away on October 7, 2012. Bob and I were very close, and the idea of composing a “Millikan Symphony” in his honor came to me only days after his death. When I was very young Bob transcribed my first compositions and made them into a little book. It has always been something I've treasured. In the first days following his death, I thought of this book and remembered that there was a half sheet of manuscript paper tucked in the back with the beginnings of a theme that Bob and I had playfully written together as kids. We triumphantly titled it “Millikan’s Symphony in A minor” in big block letters. I took it out, having not looked at it in many years, and discovered that interestingly it began with the interval of a descending minor 9th. It was then that the idea came to me to compose a “Millikan Symphony” for Bob, based in part on this theme. “Millikan Symphony” is a 48-minute work for full orchestra written in four movements, each honoring an area of Bob's work and accomplishment: Science, Animals, Rowing, Violin. My intention with this composition was not to simply write a piece for the orchestra to play, but to compose a work in collaboration with the UNC/regional community."