I wrote vent for my friend Andrew Sterman. When I met Andrew he was already a great saxophone player and a skilled clarinetist. He commissioned me specifically to write a flute piece so that he could push his flute skills as well. I tried to write a piece for him that would honor all of his interests — there are sections of this piece in which I know I was thinking of the soprano sax, while I was writing for flute. I chose the title because I loved this image of a vent, a sharp-edged opening that lets in air or light. But the title is also a humble reference to Stravinsky’s Symphonies d’instruments à vent, in honor of all the wind instruments that Andrew plays.
