Summer Solstice makes extensive use of “Sumer is Icumen In,” the thirteenth century English canon which is one of the oldest known examples of polyphony.  I have used the original canonic possibilities as well as additional canons, counterpoints, and variations.  The piece is intended to be evocative of the period of the summer solstice, the longest day-light period of the year: warmth and smoothness mixed with occasional moments of excitement, and underscored by continuous motion.  Summer Solstice was commissioned in 1995 by the University of Georgia Bands, Dwight Satterwhite, conductor.