R. Christopher Teichler, Composer: Music

“Liv” Forever was commissioned by Mrs. Dawn Pakkebier and the Still Middle School 8th Grade Orchestra (Aurora, IL) and the Indian Prairie Education Foundation, in memory of Olivia Campanaro, a student of the orchestra who tragically died in a car accident along with her father.

I met with the orchestra students at Still Middle School several times to talk about their friend, “Liv,” and get their impressions of what the piece written in her memory should be. It was clear that they wanted a piece that would celebrate her life and who she was. I learned from her friends that Liv was a very friendly, outgoing, and energetic person. They did not want a “sad song” to be written for her, but rather something that would reflect these attributes of her personality.

Liv was a viola player, and for this reason, the piece opens with a very simple melody in the violas. The cello section, symbolizing Liv’s father, soon enters to play a duet with the violas, reflecting the closeness she and her father shared in life.

I am extremely honored to have been asked to write this piece and it is my hope that it will indeed help Olivia Campanaro “live forever.”