My brother, Raja Orr, is a classical composer who recently had a composition performed at Inglenook Winery. The piece was commissioned by Maritza and Warren Nelson.

The piece is titled “Strings in the Earth and Air,” and it was inspired by the James Joyce poem of the same name. It’s a quartet for violin, viola, cello, and piano.

“Strings in the Earth and Air”

by James Joyce

Strings in the earth and air 

Make music sweet; 

Strings by the river where 

The willows meet. 

There’s music along the river 

For Love wanders there, 

Pale flowers on his mantle, 

Dark leaves on his hair. 

All softly playing, 

With head to the music bent, 

And fingers straying 

Upon an instrument.

Here is a link to my brother’s beautiful music composition! You can listen to it on SoundCloud, and also watch a recording of the live performance on YouTube.

The performers are:

Brendan Speltz – violin

Pierre Lapointe – viola

Nicholas Canellakis – cello

Michael Brown – piano

If you’d like to learn more about my brother’s work, be sure to visit his website, RajaOrr.com and also check him out on SoundCloud, YouTube, and Instagram.