We are the stories we’ve been told is a three movement work for flute, viola, and vibraphone, and is the result of a collaboration between myself and musicians, Ryan Limanto, Andrew McGuire, and McKenna Lee. The inspiration for the piece was to pull from folk stories of each of the commissioners’ heritage. We are the stories we’ve been told is not directly programmatic. Instead, a line was selected (often times slightly adjusted) from the original story as a way to set a general idea or mood. These lines have been used as the movement titles for the work.