About the Importance of Breathing | Eric Estrada Valadez

About the Importance of Breathing (2020)

Instrumentation:

violin and cello

Duration: ca. 7'

This work is the result of a reflection on the need for moments of calm and stillness in an accelerated and chaotic world. In recent years, I have learned that breathing is a way to connect with the present and with the world around me. The piece is divided into three sections: in the central section, I seek to evoke the sensations that meditation produces in me, in contrast to the agitation and anxiety that arise from the constant flow of disorganized thoughts in the first and third sections.

Commissioned by the Bowdoin International Music Festival

Performance History:

Premiered at the Bowdoin International Music Festival on July of 2020