Arcadia was commissioned by Musaics of the Bay and written in response to June Yokell's painting Paradise Lost.

When I first saw her painting, I knew immediately that I must compose music from it. The colors of the landscape spoke to me directly, reminding me of the geography of my childhood home in Western Wisconsin. Arcadia is not only the name of a small town in Wisconsin, it is also an ancient Greek word for an ancient, unspoiled wilderness, where humans live in harmony with nature.

In 2020, as I looked at the surrounding Wisconsin landscape while composing this work, I had feelings of loss, alienation, and sadness. While much of the natural world was (and still is) still incredibly beautiful, I had a sense that somehow a metaphorical poison had covered the land, rendering it a Paradise Lost. Arcadia seeks to capture these emotions that I experienced through June's painting in that time.