PROGRAM NOTE

Raise Hawaiki is inspired by the name of the mythical homeland of the Polynesian people (Hawaiki) and from Sam Low’s Hawaiki Rising. The multiple meanings of Hawaiki Rising include the dream of the legendary Hawaiian waterman, Eddie Aikau, seeing Tahiti rise from the sea on a voyage aboard the Hawaiian canoe, Hōkūleʻa. The work, scored for string orchestra and piano, celebrates the great Hawaiian seafaring heritage with propulsive rhythmic energy and a lyrical theme that ebbs and flows like the rising tides and currents of the sea.

Related works: RAISE HAWAIKI (For Chorus and Orchestra)

The work, in celebration of Hōkūleʻa's Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, is dedicated to the life and memory of Wallace L.T. Wong by Elizabeth and Isabella Wong.

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