Associate Professor of Music Vineet Shende’s latest piece for solo violin had its world premiere recently and is garnering high praise from at least one critic. Former New York Times music and culture writer Allan Kozinn described “Prakash Ani Saoli”—which in the Indian Marathi language means “Luminescence and Shadow”— as a “dazzling showpiece, that draws on just about anything a solo violinist can do.”

Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Kozinn said the work could be a “substantial addition to the repertory for unaccompanied violin.” Kozinn reviewed a July 20, 2017, performance of the piece at Portland’s Space Gallery, the day after it enjoyed its world premiere in Belfast, Maine. Both concerts were part of the Seal Bay Festival, in which the Cassatt String Quartet performed chamber works by contemporary American composers.