Elegy for the Stars (2022) - My composition, "Elegy for the Stars", is inspired by the feelings I get, looking back on my childhood and remembering how often the night sky felt empty, and never really being able to see the stars. For a long time I was fascinated with space, and I still am, as it is such a vast expanse that lends itself to infinite possibilities yet we know so little. I remember seeing pictures from National Geographic showing how you could see the Milky Way Galaxy from certain places on Earth, and I yearned to go, yet I never got the chance to see them. Throughout this piece there are a wide range of different suspended notes and extended chords that I use to create feelings of longing and sadness, but at the same time a love for something more. (Big thanks to the performers who played my composition, I wouldn’t have been able to go through with writing this without you all) - Benjamin J. Davidson