At a Glance
Style
Cinematic • Rhythmic • Majestic
Selected Performances & Recognition
🏆 2024 Winner – The American Prize
Wind-Or-Jester (Berlin, Germany)
Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA) Conference
Novi High School Wind Ensemble
Great Lakes Concert Band Festival
University of Northern Colorado
University of Tennessee
West Virginia University
Colorado State University
What Makes It Unique
Modern colors unique to the wind ensemble, energetic rhythms, and vivid musical imagery bring the mountains, storms, clouds, and sunsets of the Colorado landscape to life.
Musical Influences
Michael Daugherty – Niagara Falls
James M. David – Urban Light
Carter Pann – Four Factories
Colorado Landscapes
Why I Wrote This Piece
Commissioned by the University of Northern Colorado to celebrate the scale, beauty, and constantly changing character of Colorado's mountain landscapes.
Instrumentation
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
Clarinet in Bb I-II-III
Bass Clarinet
Contrabass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone I-II
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Trumpet in Bb I-II-III
Horn I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium I-II
Tuba
Piano
6 Percussion
Notes
• Optional Contrabassoon
• Optional Contrabass Clarinet
Program Note
To Sacred Summits is a musical representation of the mountains of Colorado. The music aims to capture their unique beauty and power. I am able to see the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park from the window in my studio, so their influence was profound as I composed this piece of music. After all these years of the same view, I find it fascinating how dynamic the landscape can be as wind, light, clouds, snow, and fire alter the scenery.
I often think about what it was like to see these mountains for the first time; an experience that has been shared by millions of people across thousands of years. The short introduction of this piece of music represents the distant giants, seen from miles away or perhaps just being imagined from stories or images. The mystery gives way to an explosion of sound as beams of light crest the peaks, bringing the mountains and sky to life.
This piece is the culmination of musical sketches and ideas across a five-year span. The title is derived from a line in the poem “Mountain Storm” by Katherine Lee Bates, who also wrote about “purple mountain majesties” in a work that was later adapted to the song “America the Beautiful”.
To Sacred Summits serves as a reminder to stop every now and again and marvel at the beauty in our world. We can often forget to appreciate the most wonderful things when they are right in front of us every day.
Questions about the piece?
Feel free to reach out if there's anything I can do to help as you explore this piece.
