George N. Gianopoulos || The Volstead Act for Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Op. 46

It is 1919: you’re sitting in your favorite pub or have just purchased a bottle (or two) of wine to enjoy over dinner. Suddenly, all of the nation’s libation’s are drained, destroyed, and depleted – meet the Volstead Act, America’s driest wet season, colloquially known as prohibition. This thirteen minute roaring symphonic wind ensemble work foxtrot’s through boozy America, swims through bootlegging, and rhumbas into the repeal of one of this countries haziest constitutional amendments.

The Volstead Act for Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Op. 46

Program notes:
On White and Crimson was commissioned by Justin Swearinger for the Monmouth College Wind Ensemble, an ensemble I spent four formative years performing in as an undergraduate student. This piece is inspired by a memory from my freshman year of a professor explaining that flowing beneath the Monmouth campus is an underground river which shaped its hills and influenced the placement of many of the campus’s buildings. Reflecting on this memory, I remembered a quote by Philip Glass which surprisingly connects the idea of the underground river to the ways in which my undergrad made an impact on my conception of music. 

“My experience with music is that it’s like an underground river, it’s always there. And like an underground river, you don’t know where it comes from and you don’t know where it’s going. The only difference is whether you are listening to it or not.”  
								—Philip Glass

Representing the river, most of the wind players have two smooth stones, like those you might find in riverbeds. The sounds created by clicking or gently grinding these stones together are found all throughout the piece, enriching its textures. The title of this piece is adapted from Monmouth College’s alma mater: A Flame of White and Crimson. While there are no musical references to the hymn, this piece is my attempt at writing on my college experience—looking back now over five years post graduation.


performed by the University of Maryland Wind Orchestra, dir. Michael Votta
May 3, 2024

On White and Crimson (2023) for wind ensemble

Last Tuesday (for Wind Ensemble)

Grade 1.5-2.5 band piece. Get at brandonthecomposer.com

Last Warrior

A brief yet charming 'Allegretto' for 11 winds by Michele Carafa (1787-1872), composed in 1845 while a teacher at the Paris Conservatory. Prior to his career as an opera composer, Carafa was a lieutenant in Napoleon's army and composed numerous works for wind band ("musique militaire"). Never published or recorded. World premiere digital performance, created using Finale 27 and NotePerformer 4. Scored for flute, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, cornet, 2 horns and 2 bassoons.

Michele Carafa: Allegretto for wind ensemble (1845)

In June of 2023 I went on the most exhilarating, awe-inspiring, and spiritually fulfilling trip I have ever been on. As part of the Composing in the Wilderness Lake Clark 2023 program me and five other composers led by our wilderness guides and the founder of the program Stephen Lias camped and explored the wilderness on Lower Tazimina Lake in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska. I’m still speechless about this experience and the pure beauty of the unsullied environment I found myself in. I have always loved being out in nature and appreciating the profound beauty that Mother Earth has provided for us. Being a part of this select group and living within this space was life changing.

As part of the experience each composer received a “creative assignment” that serves a particular purpose within the overall program of the six works. My assignment was to write a “light, humorous, or playful” wind ensemble work. At first, I had a really hard time with this assignment. I did not view this place as “light, humorous, or playful” whatsoever and was having a really hard time coming up with ideas that depicted this. On our first day of hiking, we took short creative breaks where we could contemplate our assignments and come up with ideas. Rather than searching for answers about my piece I found myself being in the moment and simply taking in what my eyes were witnessing. I felt my spirit being intertwined with Mother Earth’s spirit and, in that moment, was the most important thing to me. The ideas can come later, but those moments were dedicated to me and nature.

As we continued our hike, I started to think how I was supposed to write this “light, humorous, or playful” piece about a place I didn’t view as “light, humorous, or playful,” in fact very far from it. Then, out of the brush, a snowy white bird emerged and flew to a nearby tree making a guttural series of clucking sounds. Our guides identified it as a willow ptarmigan, a type of grouse commonly found in subarctic tundra. It was spectacular to witness such a beautiful bird. As the week progressed, I observed more birds and their songs. One morning we were sitting on the beach eating breakfast and a flock of what looked like sanderlings flew right past us. It was at this moment where I knew how I could write a playful piece, the Alaskan birds, and their various dances. 

𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙖: 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙋𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙣 depicts the willow ptarmigan, represented by the bassoon, and their highly territorial and playful nature along with other various birds I heard while in the wilderness and their interactions with one another.

𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙖 is written as part of the Composing in the Wilderness Lake Clark 2023 program led by Stephen Lias. Premiere performances will be done in spring 2024 by Tamey Anglley and the Stephen F. Austin University Wind Ensemble, Carolyn Barber and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Wind Ensemble, and Kevin Tutt and the Grand Valley State University Wind Symphony.

Journey Above the Tundra: Dance of the Willow Ptarmigan

Working on my arranging chops with "Saturn" by SZA, one of my favorite artists! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! :)

Saturn (SZA) for Concert Band

"Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" is an historical drama television series, first broadcast by the BBC in 2024, ten years after the original 'Wolf Hall' series in 2014. It is the second and final part of the adaptation of the 'Wolf Hall' novels by Hilary Mantel, covering 'The Mirror & the Light', the final novel in the trilogy. The series begins with Thomas Cromwell navigating the Tudor court in the aftermath of the 1536 execution of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, and the monarch about to marry his third wife, Jane Seymour. Debbie Wiseman returns as the series composer, and her haunting score contains leit motifs for the major characters, but most prominent is Cromwell's, heard on Cor Anglais; this short piece from the soundtrack, freshly arranged for concert band, brings together the main themes in all their intimate majesty. Demands a very resonant acoustic and, preferably, dimmed lights (or even candlelight) to really capture the atmosphere. Arranged as part of an ongoing project to bring more music by women into the worldwide concert band repertoire.

Download the score and parts for your band today: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1670541/Product.aspx

Wolf Hall - The Mirror and the Light (Debbie Wiseman) (Concert Band)

A bright, aggressive fanfare in major key. Classical caffeine for your ears!

Fanfare for a New Beginning

A staccato theme, scored in ever-evolving antiphonal complexity among competing tribes of strings and woodwinds, leads to a massive, cathartic brass chorale.

Pursuit

校歌をモチーフにした前作Rose of Februaryを、卒業式の退場用にアレンジしなおした曲です。退場がしやすいようにテンポ変化はしないように作ってあります。別れの季節にふさわしく、どこか切なくそして希望を見いだせる曲として作りました。

また、途中にはここ10年ちょっとくらいの生徒には縁の深い第九のフレーズも追加しました。しっとりと聴かせたいですね。

Rose of Farewell

Dr. Bob Eason, soprano saxophone
Dr. Tamey Anglley, condutor
Stephen F. Austin State University Wind Ensemble

I. Light (Prelude) (00:00)
II. Bison (02:22)
III. Timber (06:27)
IV. Water (10:52)
V. Fuel (15:59)
VI. Light (Postlude) (18:59)

The title of "The Myth of Inexhaustibility" is derived from the notion that our natural resources will never run out. The piece explores the overexploitation of our natural resources through four movements: Bison, Timber, Water, and Fuel, that are bookended by a prelude and postlude, Light. Each is a resource that has been historically overharvested in American history. The work takes inspiration from the sounds of agricultural and industrial expansion with an Americana flavor in the harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic language, covering a broad range of emotions, from frantic development to despair to glimmers of hope, with challenging material for the saxophonist soloist. The piece exists in both soprano sax and wind ensemble AND soprano sax and piano or fixed media versions.

Join the consortium here: https://www.benmorrismusic.com/mythconsortium

YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmisvDmG5Y8

The piece exists in both soprano sax and wind ensemble AND soprano sax and piano or fixed media versions.

Thank you to Stephen Lias and Nathan Stansbury for recording video, and Byron Reinhardt, Stephen Bacarisse, and Hugh Taylor for audio and technical assistance.

The Myth of Inexhaustibility

Atiran Srichada-First Pagoda

Atiran Srichada-Ashita March

Atiran Srichada-The Holy Land

Betelgeuse - I. Llegada 

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© Juan Felipe Zarama, 2025 · Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 

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Felipe Zarama | Betelgeuse - I. Llegada (2022)

Sean Klink is a composer and educator currently pursuing his DMA at the University of Maryland.

Email: seanmichaelklink@gmail.com

Ceruliyan composes orchestral, wind band, guitar, and percussion music for stage, screen, and streaming.

Músico | Compositor 🇨🇴
Contacto: 
📩 felipezarama.music@gmail.com

Estudiante de composición en Universidad de Antioquia - Medellín

Ben Morris is a composer whose music tells unconventional stories and crosses genre boundaries. He is Assistant Professor of Composition at Stephen F. Austin State University.

趣味で作曲をしているものです。
お気に召していただければ幸いです。

Darius Edwards is an award-winning saxophonist and composer based in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education with an emphasis in Saxophone Performance and a minor in Music Composition.

Dr. Trevor Frost is a freelance educator, conductor and composer based in Nebraska. Frost received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Wind Band Conducting with a related area in Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His duties at UNL included work with the Ensemble Performance Lab, Symphonic Band, Campus Band, the Big Red Express pep bands, and the Cornhusker Marching Band. Prior to joining the team at UNL, Frost served as the music director at Paul Elementary School in Wakefield, New Hampshire creating a band, chorus, and general music program. He received his Master of Arts in Music: Music Conducting degree from the University of New Hampshire in 2021, and his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of New Hampshire in 2016. Frost remains active as a composer receiving commissions from the New Hampshire Youth Band, the University of New Hampshire Wind Symphony, the Keene State Concert Choir, Lebanon High School (NH), and Pittsfield High School (MA). Frost was also selected as one of six composers for the “Composing in the Wilderness 2023 Lake Clark” program led by Composer-Adventurer Stephen Lias.

I am an active composer and arranger in the USA. Please visit brandonthecomposer.com for more information.

New tracks tagged #WindEnsemble