Anna Rubin

for actor and two pianos

Powehi for actor and two pianists (two pianos) was commissioned by the Piano on the Rocks Festival in 2019. We decided jointly that the piece would be about black holes, which fascinate both director/pianist Sandrine Erdely-Sayo and myself. "Powehi" is the name of a black hole dwelling at the center of a supergiant galaxy in the constellation Virgo. In 2019, this black hole was the first ever to be photographed. Astronomers reached out to Larry Kimura, a longtime advocate and teacher of the Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii-Hilo, to coin the name. The name is sourced from the Kumulipo, the sacred chant of creation from the aliʻi, Hawaiʻi’s chiefs. Pō is the powerful, creative darkness referred to in the chant. Wehi is the embellished adornment that would crown and aliʻi—similar to the bright ring of orange that surrounds the black hole. Therefore, Powehi stands for the creative darkness which is embellished with a crown.  As I read about Powehi and black holes in general, I created a text that explored the related concepts of gravity, dark matter, dark energy, and the mystery of black holes. I wrote the piece with the virtuosity of both Erdely-Sayo and Cynthia Raim, her colleague at the festival, in mind. The piece is cyclical and wavelike in nature, with slower, sparser material gradually building into powerful, intense peaks, and then subsiding again, only to repeat the process. The gravity section near the beginning evokes carousel-like music. The blues influence the material on dark matter.

The piece premiered at Piano on the Rocks in 2019 in Sedona and has been recorded for release in 2024.