Did you watch the clock count down to the first second of the first minute of the first hour of the new millennium? When I was co-commissioned by the Knoxville Symphony Association and the National Endowment for the Arts to create a four minute piece celebrating the event, it inspired me to recreate the hopeful, forward-looking music that I heard in my head as I watched the countdown. The result, a glittering, ebulliently cinematic showpiece, was received with a standing ovation when it was premiered on the 4th of July in 2000 at the Tennessee Amphitheater. The orchestra decided to repeat the work as the opener for their 2000-2001 season on September 23rd, 2000.