AURORA: Symphony No. 1 for Winds (2023)
Call for Consortium Members
WHAT WE’RE DOING:
Professor Ron Ellis, Director of Bands at the University of Texas at San Antonio, is leading a consortium to commission my Symphony No. 1 for Winds.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT:
The subtitle of the symphony, “Aurora,” is an homage to dreary nights that turn into brighter days, sorrows that transform into joy, death into life, and the profane into the sacred. The work will explore themes of resurrection, renewal, and the transformation that comes when forces of duress erupt into epiphanies of ecstasy. Musically, the work will be infused with cataclysmic collisions, robust and rambunctious rhythms, but also haunting stillness that aspires to echoes of heavenly lyricism.
THE SPECS:
The work will be 18-22 minutes long in four movements. Difficulty will be Grade 5. We’re asking all participants to commit in the Fall of 2023, with delivery of printable PDF score and parts available by August 15, 2024.
ABOUT ME:
While you can certainly read my official bio here, and some lovely press quotes here, suffice it to say that composing for me is both craft and spiritual practice. The act and discipline of composing is a form of meditation—a space in which I seek to find transcendence. Composing is also a space where I look to tap deep underground springs of universal ideals, where composer, performer, and listener can find communion and joy together. I’ve been writing and performing music for most of my life. Piano lessons from childhood into college, studies in voice and years of choral singing, I’ve also trained for several years as an oud player under the tutelage of a fabulous teacher. In this latter capacity I’ve composed and arranged for my world folk band, Viatorum.
WHAT I’VE DONE:
While my concert works have been performed all over the world, I’m thrilled to have had my works for winds performed by fabulous ensembles in places such as CBDNA regional conferences as well as the International Tuba Euphonium Conference, and many universities.
FEE FOR PARTICIPATION:
$800 payable in one or two installments (within one, or over two, fiscal years).
WHAT YOU GET:
Your name and institution listed on the dedication page, as well as a period of exclusivity to perform the work.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED:
*PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM*. We will then reach out to you with details regarding the contract.
Click above to hear a high-quality mockup of the proposed third movement!
SCORE of the proposed third movement!