North Star was conceived when I heard the news that the Peace Tower carillon, the musical centerpiece of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, was having to go silent for many years as a result of the Centre Block renovation. The piece is intended to keep alive, through music, the beacon of hope and inspiration and longing for peace – the North Star – that the Peace Tower represents.

North Star opens with twinkling stars rising, and then the two note North Star motif which shines through a kaleidoscope of sounds and moods incorporating the low A-natural and low B-natural that give a special resonance to the Peace Tower carillon. North Star ultimately resolves to the well known hymn "Oh God, Our Help, in Ages Past" to the tune of "St. Anne" by William Croft, a message of inspiration that carries out into the starry universe.

—Charles Zettek Jr.