Sacrifice
March 8th, 2026
Indigo Run
“Indigo Run was commissioned by the University of Miami Wind Ensemble and the New Music Consortium under the direction of Gary Green, conductor, and Michael Robinson, consortium director. It is a musical display of the rich and vibrant hue found in the Carolina low country. It is an outgrowth of the composer’s thoughts as he was taking his morning run through the Indigo Park community on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. While not a fully programmatic depiction of the scenery, the work attempts to recreate the essence of the landscape in the sound” — Program note by publisher
The sacrifices we make for our physical and mental health are just as important as those we make for others. Keeping the energy up and moving quickly is the perfect start to this concert that will take us on an emotional journey. I hope you enjoy our “morning run” and whatever activity you choose to keep yourself active!
Tribute
“Tribute was commissioned by the Southwest Iowa Bandmasters Association and premiered by their 11-12 grade honor band on January 16, 2006, with the composer conducting. The piece begins with two statements of the main theme, presented first with relatively straightforward accompaniment and then with a descant in the upper woodwinds. A contrasting section features a lilting eighth-note motive that moves throughout the ensemble, leading to the climactic return of the main theme. A brief coda reprises both of the primary melodic ideas in the alternating trumpet solos and brings the piece to a close.” —Program note by publisher
Travis Cross leaves the inspiration of this piece to the ensemble and to the audience. Anything you wish to pay tribute to, this piece is for you. When I first heard this piece, I thought of my parents and many other parents out there, who sacrificed everything for their children’s future. To parents, past, present, and future, thank you.
Elegy for Concert Band
Elegy was commissioned by the West Genesee Senior High School band after the sudden loss of one of their classmates. This piece explores the stages of grief that are felt by the students, staff, and community members at the unexpected passing of one of their own. Teachers and communities everywhere know and understand this feeling all too well. It takes a village to raise youths and the sacrifices to one’s sanity and soul are great; yet exponentially rewarding. This piece is for every student who did not make it to graduation and for every family who never got to celebrate their coming to adulthood. This piece is also for every teacher who has ever had to hold it together in front of the class; even when you know why one is missing.
Vigil: For Those Who Do Not Know
“Vigil: For Those Who Do Not Know” was written as, a devotion to humanity for hope amongst the dark clouds of social tensions and attitudes that threaten us on a daily basis. The work represents a struggle against social restraints brought on by ignorance and hatred against all peoples which have been handed down from generation to generation. Its modal character depicts inner struggles, fears, emptiness, and pain; however, the work ends with a resolution to a major chord signifying a very subtle, but definite sense of hope. The Latin text used in this work, translated as “Our destinies are tied together; none of us can make it alone,” is an adaptation from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.” — Program note by composer
Radiant Shadows from Heartland Portraits
We are all guided by the voices and spirits of those we have loved and lost, all of them.
They may be gone but their impact on us still shows us the way both morally and spiritually. The ache of loss, being emotionally severed from ones you love, is truly inexpressible in words. Music can do it, but the cost to your emotional well-being during the act of composing such music is great. To exist in that pit, that black hole for weeks trying to put what you are feeling on the page, touching, embracing and living inside sorrow is so difficult, so soul taxing. I don’t know that I will ever do it again, but I do know this one time it was worth it.
There is great beauty in loss.
Music is transcending and miraculous. You don’t accidentally compose music of this nature, you have to live it. When you perform it, you live it too only it is your pain, your healing. The saving grace is emerging from a hellacious journey and being greeted with the comforting hugs from friends and family. The hurting never stops, but healing also never stops. It is in healing when audience members hug you, still crying after listening to it and saying “Thank you! Your music was so sad but it had so much love and hope too!” That comment pretty much sums up life don’t you think? Sad to think it took me eight minutes of music to try and say the same thing.
Radiant Shadows was composed during a seventy-three day journey, including a daily bucket list; the last seventy-three days I had with Sadie, who died of bone cancer. Sadie was my Great Dane, my companion and my loving innocent baby. She was only five years old. This is my Adagio for Strings. Sounds nothing like it of course, but the emotional journey is the same.
Those are not my words; those are the words of people who heard its premiere. I can hardly listen to it and I don’t think I am capable of holding it together while conducting it so that may never happen either. Hearing it was the longest eight minutes of my life.
—Program note by composer
Ash
I never saw snowfall as a child growing up in Southern California; it was more a phenomenon that I saw in cartoons or read in children’s books.
I did, however, witness my first ash-fall when I was in elementary school. I looked up into the clouded sky and saw specks of ash falling from it. Excited but puzzled, I looked to my elementary school teacher during recess and held out my hand. “Oh, that’s ash from the wildfires,” she said. At that time, I couldn’t comprehend how an enormous forest fire could create a small flurry of ash-flakes.
Now I have the ominous understanding that something so magical and beautiful comes from something so powerful and destructive. — Program note by composer
This piece is for the sacrifice all fire fighters, environmental services, and emergency staff make during the wildfires in the PNW. Thank you for protecting our forests, cities, and homes from more destruction.
Mother Earth (A Fanfare)
Praised by You, my Lord, for our sister, MOTHER EARTH, Who nourishes us and teaches us,
Bringing forth all kinds of fruits and colored flowers and herbs.
—St. Francis of Assisi
This commission was for a three-minute fanfare piece. Each piece takes on a reason for being all its own, and Mother Earth is no exception. It became an urgent message from Our Mother to treat her more kindly! My reading at the time of writing this music was For a Future to be Possible by the Vietnamese monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. He believes that the only way forward is to be extremely alive and aware in our present moment, to become awake to the needs of our beloved planet, and to respond to it as a living entity. Music making allows us to come immediately awake. It is an instant connection to the powerful wellspring of our creativity, and opens our minds to the solution of any number of problems, including that of our damaged environment. My little piece does not solve the problem! But it is a living call to the wide-awake life, and it continues to be performed by young people around the world. — Program note by composer