Pandas in the Bamboo Forest for Flute Choir

Pandas in the Bamboo Forest was commissioned by Linda Mintener and the Madison Flute Choir and premiered in 2017. It is written antiphonally: the performers should be spread around the front, sides, and back of the performance hall to take full advantage of the antiphonal structure of the music. Written in two sections marked Andante and Allegretto, each section uses a slightly different form of the pentatonic scale. The melody of the Allegretto section is based on a Shanghai Opera Melody called Purple Bamboo Melody.