Introducing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Movement I for Eight Trumpets!

A few years ago – the summer of 2009, to be exact, – I was exposed by a colleague to a youtube video which served as a life-altering experience for me and an inspiration to me as an up-and-coming composer. The video was the National Trumpet Competition’s (NTC's) video of the 2009 Ensemble Division winners, the Juilliard School, performing Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Before that day, I had no idea that NTC existed or that trumpet ensemble stood as a real and existing ensemble that people could perform in. Never in my life had I seen or heard a Piccolo Trumpet or an Eb Trumpet. Most importantly, I had no idea a trumpet player could steal parts meant for woodwind instruments and play them at blistering tempos without being given weird looks by their friends and band directors...

Surely, this paved the path for a love of trumpet ensemble music – growing a love and respect for the works of Erik Morales and for trumpet ensembles like Indiana, Grand Valley State, and Northwestern. – as well as an enthusiastic request to join a trumpet ensemble in college.

Once I joined a trumpet ensemble, the dream was to write for it and play in it at the National Trumpet Competition. The thought was this: among the most exciting NTC performances are the brand new compositions (Morales’ “Path of Discovery”, “Cyclone”, etc.) and the legendary pieces of literature (“Festive Overture”, “William Tell Overture”, etc.). Thus, the original composition Suite for Six Trumpets was born, tailored (to the best of my ability) to the specific strengths of the trumpet ensemble for which I performed. 2 years later - a different time in a different ensemble - it was time to take the other approach.

The Sonata from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony – particularly the opening motif – stands as perhaps the most well-known piece of literature in the orchestral world today... Capturing its essence to fit a Trumpet Ensemble has easily been the most difficult yet most rewarding of any project I’ve ever tackled. Virginia Commonwealth University's Trumpet Ensemble performed the WORLD PREMIERE of this arrangement in November, submitting it one month later into the National Trumpet Competition for preliminary judging in hopes of performing live in semifinals.