Orchestra and Wind Ensemble

A Sousa-style march dedicated to the city of Spencer, Iowa. In the summer of 2011, I was the assistant music director intern at the Spencer Community Theatre. This march was written later that year and premiered in August 2012 by the Spencer Municipal Band under the direction of Janet Boyens. 

This version played in a reading session by the UW-Madison Wind Ensemble in May 2014. Unforunately, we did not have the train whistle, so get ready for some goofy slide whistle instead!

Spencer Municipal March

A reading of my tone poem "Kitseguecla" by the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, December 2013.

Kitseguecla is the name of a mountain near Smithers, British Columbia, which I have hiked on a goat hunt. A stunning mountain in a beautiful region!

Kitseguecla: The Sharp-Pointed Mountain

Composed by Jonathan Posthuma for the University of Wisconsin - Madison Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Scott Teeple. Premiered on April 24, 2015.

An Isthmus Aubade

Premiered by the Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra with Clocks in Motion
Mikko Rankin Utevsky, conductor

Part I "Ebullient"
Part II "Esoteric"
Part III "Effusive"

Concerto Grosso No. 1 In E Minor

Rhapsodecaphrenia

Jonathan Posthuma, 2013

Reading in December 2013 by UW - Madison Wind Ensemble, Scott Teeple, director.

Rhapsodecaphrenia

"Fili di Perle" (Strings of Pearls) was composed for the Karol Szymanowski Composition Competition and was awarded 3rd Prize. The piece was premiered by the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland; under the direction of Maciej Tomasiewicz.

Fili di Perle (Strings of Pearls)

The scherzo from  Chamber Symphony "Beams of Heaven" incorporates three American hymn tunes: "Beams of Heaven," "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood," and "Jesus Paid It All." The scherzo pays homage to Mahler and Ives in many ways, and when finished will be the central movements of the work. This movement was premiered in Curitiba, Brazil as part of the IV BIENAL MÚSICA HOJA with the Orquestra Filarmônica da Universidade Federal do Paraná , led by Maestro Prof. Dr. Antônio Carlos Borges-Cunha.

"Scherzo" from Chamber Symphony - Beams of Heaven

World Premiere by the American Modern Orchestra at the Mostly Modern Festival, June 3, 2018. Martim Sousa Tavares, conductor

A "ricercar" is a Baroque form, often likened to a "fugal fantasia" and is usually improvised as an introduction to a larger work. As the first movement of "Chamber Symphony," broad harmonic and thematic concepts are presented, which will be developed in subsequent movements.

"Ricercar" from Chamber Symphony - Beams of Heaven

World Premiere by the American Modern Orchestra at the Mostly Modern Festival, June 3, 2018.

Martim Sousa Tavares, conductor

The second of four "tone poems" in the full work, "The Flood - clouds may hide tomorrow's sun" creates a watery landscape filled with rising tension and swirling currents of sound. The climax is a cloudburst, when the heavens open, allowing the listener to finally let go and "join the storm."

"II. The Flood - clouds may hide tomorrow's sun" from Chamber Symphony - Beams of Heaven

A jazz setting of J. S. Bach's "Invention No. 13 in A minor." 

Composed Fall 2012, premiered by Ripon High School's Jazz Ensemble, December 2012.

Reinventing No. 13

Collection of recorded compositions of Jonathan Posthuma, composer.

Orchestra and Wind Ensemble

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