A Parable for End Times

15 min

Commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts

*3.2.*3.2 / 4.3.3.1 / timp + 3perc / hp / pno+cel / strings / choir (SATB)

Steven Erikson : The Devil Delivered

A Parable for End Times is a setting of an excerpt from Canadian author Steven Erikson’s novella “The Devil Delivered”. The story depicts a near-future Earth ravaged by nuclear fallout, depleted natural resources, and an ozone hole the size of the Great Plains. In this dystopia, a young boy’s painfully naive question – “what did I do wrong” – is met with a scathing diatribe on humanity’s complicity in its own planet’s destruction, resulting from a myopic preoccupation with ephemeral comforts and exploitative indulgence.

This piece is my response to how timely and prescient Erikson’s words feel in the current cultural landscape.