This piece is dedicated to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut.
This piece has three sections, each of them conveying a similar idea. In the first section, the names of the victims of the shooting are floating in the air. The second section’s lyric is based on the poem “Cradle Song”, a lullaby by the dramatist Thomas Dekker in the 17th century. Though 400 years old, the poem may seem familiar from its use in a song by the Beatles. The last section is a traditional Taiwanese Lullaby, depicting a mother swinging her baby to sleep.
To Heaven is constructed live with real-time processed sound. The only pre-recorded sounds are the names from the Sandy Hook tragedy.