ONWARD (2018)

for brass ensemble (orchestral brass version; wind ensemble brass version available here)

Duration: ca. 1′

Composed for the 2018 Ithaca College Commencement Ceremony

Premiered by Ben Futterman, Patrick Holcomb, Sydney Rosen, and Jeremy Straüs, horns; Matt Brockman, Stephen Russell, Mike Salamone, and Michael Stern, trumpets; Andrea Dollinger, Julie Dombroski, and William Esterling III, trombones; Johanna Wiley, bass trombone; Steven Wilkinson, tuba; and Aaron Burgess, conductor on May 20, 2018 in the Butterfield Stadium at Ithaca College

INSTRUMENTATION:

 

4 horns

4 trumpets in C

3 trombones

Bass trombone

Tuba

PROGRAM NOTE:

 
When I received the commission to write the fanfare that would begin the 2018 Ithaca College Commencement Ceremony, I was thrilled at the opportunity to be featured as a composer at my own graduation. I knew when I started the project that the performance of this piece would be my last premiere as an Ithaca College student before I went on to pursue my master’s degree at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Thus, I felt that the piece needed to express both the bittersweet of endings and the excitement of new beginnings, and with these sentiments in mind, I wrote what would soon become Onward (2018).

RECORDING: