2020 was a painful year for everyone. As I began to compose this piece, I felt the need to create something calming and serene, a feeling that I and the rest of the world had been missing that year. And so "Everlasting Sky" was born. This piece evokes the feeling of laying on the grass and looking up at the sky, with the clouds forever flowing peacefully above us.

It was premiered on October 21st, 2021 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Everlasting Sky

Unquiet Waters , version for sax choir-Kevin Day

Day_Ember Skies [string orch.]

Day_Solace in the Wind [string

NEON - Kevin Day

Blue Nova Fanfare String Orchestra

Symphony No. 1: Floating—for wind ensemble. Whew, writing a symphony is a hell of a thing!

Updated 4/23/25.

Symphony No. 1: Floating (Full MIDI Preview)

The world premiere of Symphony No. 1: Floating, performed by the Texas Woman's University Wind Symphony conducted by Dr. Carter Biggers. To learn more about this work, peruse a full score, and learn about the ongoing consortium for it, check it out here: https://harrisonjcollins.squarespace.com/symphony-consortium

Symphony No. 1: Floating (World Premiere)

Niamara's Aria (from LALOVAVI) - in English and Tut
Music: Kevin Day
Libretto: Tifara Brown
Talise Trevigne, soprano
Kevin Day, piano
Recorded at Cincinnati Music Hall
Video and Audio by Chauncey Luce/Blueprint Production House

LALOVAVI will premiere on July 9 & 11, 2026
www.cincinnatiopera.com/lalovavi

@talisetrevigne
@kevindaymusic
@tifarabrown

Words by Tifara Brown:

Lalovavi, Lalovavi, Cut-o-mum-e/tut-o/mum-e
(Love, Love, come to me.)

Lalovavi, Lalovavi, Cut-o-mum-e/tut-o/mum-e
(Love, Love, come to me).

Nun-o/mum-a-squa-tut-e-rut/waks-hash-e-rut-e-/yak-ou/jug-o
(No matter where you go)

Lalovavi, Lalovavi, Cut-o-mum-e/tut-o/mum-e
(Love, Love, come to me.)

You climb the mountains,
Or sink in the sea,
No matter where you go,
Love, come to me.

If my body becomes dust,
If my life is to cease,
On the wind, I will say,
Love, come to me. 

Lalovavi, come to me.

"Love, Come to Me" (Niamara's Aria) from LALOVAVI

LEARN MORE: https://joshtrentadue.com/essay-string-orch
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© 2024 M.O.T.I.F. (ASCAP)

Essay for String Orchestra (2024) - DEMO REC

Live recording from the October 24, 2016 world premiere in Auer Hall, Bloomington, IN

Miles Edwards, cello
Dakota Smith, marimba
Maya Vansuch, voice

In the beginning there was myth. Before there was poetry and prose, before there were songs and symphonies, we huddled in caves, crouched around campfires, inventing legends of humans and gods to explain the frightening world to each other and ourselves. Somehow, across centuries and continents, many of these legends share the same universal plots and themes. 
For instance, nearly every human society has a fire-bringer myth— the tale of some empathetic trickster who steals some spark of the gods' power so that humanity may begin its advance. (Of these fire-bringer myths, the most familiar to us in the Western world is the Greek Prometheus myth, wherein the Titan is punished by the ignorant Zeus for his gift of fire with eternal torture.) I love these myths for the courage and cunning of the fire-bringer, whose love for humankind compels them to risk grave danger and unimaginable sacrifice for our betterment. I also love the way they address the ever-relevant truth that those in power are often ignorant of the needs of the many until forced to reckon with them. Even now in the age of science, the message of the fire-bringer feels modern and relevant: the world relies on those who create and who share our gifts, no matter the possible cost. 
Here, the cello represents the fire-bringer, the Prometheus-like artist figure who discovers some spark amid the cold. They share this spark with the marimba, who represents the rest of the tribe; the two engage in a dialogue of learning and teaching, synthesizing these newfound ideas into ever more complex forms. These ideas spread like wildfire, and despite the cello's attempts to rein in the marimba, a riot ensues. In this telling, it is not the gods, but the crowds, who turn on our fire-bringer— using flame to destroy rather than to give life. Was their discovery ultimately worth its terrible cost? Will the flame pass on, or rage and die out forever?

bring us fire

Composer | Conductor | Arranger | Engraver
Production Editor, TUX People's Music

Essay for String Orchestra (2024) - DEMO REC

Josh Trentadue

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