Rose-Colored Lenses (2025)
For symphony orchestRa (3333.4331.Timp 3perc Harp Piano. Strings)
COLLEGIATE/PROFESSIONAL LEVEL
Duration: 15'
Rose-Colored Lenses draws its name from the idiom “rose-colored glasses,” which refers to someone viewing the world with an overly optimistic, often unrealistic perspective. Changing “glasses” to “lenses” suggests to me that this sense of optimism and delusion is not something easily controlled or toggled—much like the difference between glasses and contact lenses—or perhaps it was never truly within their control at all.
As I continue to grow, I learn more about the harsh realities of the world. Removing the rose-colored lenses isn’t always easy. Rose-Colored Lenses is a song for those coming to terms with difficult truths in their lives, capturing the journey of confronting and accepting these realities as they are. Like a rose, life may have its thorns, but it is still a beautiful and extraordinary thing to witness as it blossoms.
- Bakhari S. Nokuri (2024)
