Elegy, Prayer, and Hymn was commissioned by the Yale University Concert Band, Dr. Thomas C. Duffy, conductor, in memory of graduating senior Michele Dufault’s untimely death on April 13, 2011. Drawing the principal thematic material from the church hymn For All the Saints, the composer hopes that this work will be received as “music that celebrates, not mourns, a life filled with such great promise,” and as a musical tribute to “an individual who exuded such wonderful idealism.”