Dragonmount (for orchestra)- Ilona Fiedorowicz

Описание: Dragonmount, performed by the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra on February 20th, 2026.

00:00 Introduction
02:10 Start of piece

Thank you to Professor Droste and the BWSO for rehearsing and performing this piece. Thank you to my composition teachers, Dr. Needham and Dr. Borcherding, for teaching me to write and help me along the editing/rehearsing process.

A tone poem based on the prologue to The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, this piece explores human nature in an unforgiving way. In it, Lews Therin Telamon, nicknamed “The Dragon” for his military prowess, has fallen prey to the Dark One’s taint on the One Power and stumbles in a craze around his palace. The earth shakes as he calls for his wife, a three syllable motive always followed by a series of echoes in the orchestra. He is healed of his insanity, but as the air clears it is soon again filled with his screams as he meets the eyes of his fallen family. An indeterminate section where the players choose pitch and rhythm grows as he realizes they fell at his hand. In a desperate rage, he runs away from his self-created nightmare, screaming “Light forgive me”. As he is running, images of his psychosis return, the asymmetrical beating of his footsteps and his inability to escape. He draws in as much of the One Power as possible, striking down a lightning bolt and smiting him where he stands. In his place a fountain of lava gushes up higher than any peak, forming Dragonmount. In its aftermath the world breaks, and it is said the Dragon will be reborn on the slopes of the Dragonmount, and protect mankind from the threat of the Dark One.
The Wheel of Time turns and wind blows down from the peak, for it is not the beginning, but it is a beginning. Throughout the series, characters follow this theme of running away from your destiny or from tragedy, a common theme in fantasy that demonstrates the human experience. Often Robert Jordan's characters reference a 19th century Japanese military saying: "Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather".

Ilona Fiedorowicz is a junior cello performance and composition double major studying at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. She primarily writes programmatic pieces for small chamber ensembles or orchestra, guided by specific images or stories. She is inspired by what is around her, notably influenced by large bodies of water and fantasy epics. Her works have been performed in Baldwin Wallace's New Music Series, and at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. As a cellist, she has performed with the Sewanee Symphony as part of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and currently performs with the Video Game Symphony and the Cinematic Symphony Orchestra in Northeast Ohio. Ilona is currently studying composition under Dr. Carolyn Borcherding and cello under Dr. Khari Joyner.