Douglas J. Cuomo and Joe Lovano Release A RAFT, THE SKY, THE WILD SEA

Douglas J. Cuomo's new work a raft, the sky, the wild sea performed by Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano with the Winston Salem Symphony and Michelle Merrill, has been released on Blue Cloud Music.

Written for the world-renowned jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano, a raft, the sky, the wild sea draws on Cuomo's background in both the jazz and classical worlds. Its musical language references the vocabularies of both contemporary classical music and jazz, through a rich soundscape of balladic interludes and modal improvisation, within the construct of a large scale three-movement musical structure.

The work was commissioned by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Winston-Salem Symphony. Written for and dedicated to saxophonist Lovano, the work bears the fruit of an intimate and meaningful partnership, spanning genres, styles and a wealth of musical collaboration.

With the ability to call upon the experience of a highly distinguished history of composition for the concert hall and opera house, as well as for theatrical stages, television, and film, Cuomo's compelling work is a distinctive and recognisable signature, whilst never missing an opportunity to explore full stylistic range and challenge the limits of genre.

To leave so much up to the soloist requires a deep musical compatibility and trust - a special relationship between composer and performer. Lovano's tremendous artistry and wide-open musical mind allows Cuomo to shape the sound picture with freedom, and with the confidence that the exceptional beauty, raw power, sensitivity and heightened emotion so synonymous with Lovano's musical output would be brought fully to bear on the performance.

Dedicated to all refugees and displaced people around the world, a raft, the sky, the wild sea is an invitation to reflect on the position of every individual on their own personal voyages within the enormity of the world

Douglas J. Cuomo, composer

Douglas J. Cuomo has composed for the concert, operatic and theatrical stages, television, and film. His music, influenced by jazz, world music, classical, and popular sources, as well as by his spiritual practice as a Buddhist, is as personal, distinctive, and recognizable as it is wide-ranging. Cuomo's most recent works include: the music for Symphony of Flesh and Bones, an installation by Juliet Ellis (Manchester International Festival); La Cita for the Romero Guitar Quartet and voice (San Francisco Performances); Every Door, a solo harp piece for Lavinia Meijer (Stanford Live); a raft, the sky, the wild sea, a concerto for the saxophonist Joe Lovano, (London Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra); Seven

Limbs, for the guitarist Nels Cline (Wilco) and the Aizuri String Quartet; The Jump Up, a site-specific piece for Sandbox Percussion, and A White Rose in the Blue Ground, a suite for the Balourdet String Quartet. Other new works include a chamber version of his opera Doubt premiering this season with Opera Parallèle; an adaption of Seven Limbs for Joe Lovano and string quartet to be released on Sunnyside Records in summer 2026; an evening-length piece for Seth Parker Woods and Tyshawn Sorey and electronics and major new works for Sullivan Fortner and Sandbox Percussion and for Jeffrey Zeigler and electronics