Activities was commissioned by Dr. Dan Jacobs as a surprise present for the 60th birthday celebration of his wife, Susan Quinn, an author and amateur flutist living in Brookline, MA. Susan knew that there would be a surprise at her party, but had no idea that her husband had commissioned a new piece of music for her, or that I would show up with the score, a CD, and a flutist who would perform the work with me.
The title is a tribute to one of Susan’s books, a biography of Marie Curie, one of the pioneers in the field of radioactivity. This also led to the titles of the three movements, Lyric Activities, Avioactivities, and Waltz Activities.
Part of our intention was for me to write a piece that Susan herself might be able to perform on the flute (Dan's only request: "Don't make it too simple"), and in fact, about a year later, Susan and I did perform it at a chamber music concert. Activities is the fourth in a series of pieces commissioned and composed as birthday presents for amateur musicians.