Sunday, June 25, 2023 - 3:30pm

3400 N Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931


TRAD   Star Spangled Banner
GREENWOOD  God Bless the USA
DRAGON   America the Beautiful
LOWDEN  Armed Forces Salute
HOLSINGER To Tame the Perilous Skies
MARSHALL Pulse (WORLD PREMIERE)
SOUSA  Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
SOUSA  Easter Sunday on the White House Lawn
SOUSA  Washington Post
CORIGLIANO Tarantella from Gazebo Dances

Christopher Marshall, guest composer

Summer wouldn’t have the same sizzle without a patriotic concert by your Space Coast Symphony Wind Orchestra. This 18th annual red, white and blue concert will honor all those who have worn our nation’s uniform. This engaging program will showcase our national heritage, as conductor Aaron T. Collins directs the wind orchestra with music by John Corigliano, Lee Greenwood, and marches from “The March King,” John Philip Sousa.  The concert features David Holsinger’s thrilling and powerful work, To Tame the Perilous Skies, dedicated not only to the exceptional men and women of the Tactical Air Command, but to the spirit of the modern military aviator, taming perilous skies that all men will live free of oppression. Rounding out the program is the World Premiere of Christopher Marshall’s Pulse.  Pulse is Marshall’s response to the June 12 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in his hometown, Orlando.  This powerful work expresses a full range of emotions – from grief to anger to consolation. It is an attempt to come to terms with this horrific incident and the many similar incidents where the innocent are targeted where they should feel safe – in places of entertainment, of work and of worship.

 

Artist Information


Christopher Marshall is a composer and teacher based in Orlando where he continues to carve out a successful freelance career, securing commissions from top conductors and performers around the world. His music has featured on concert programs in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, and the Barbican in London.  An American citizen since 2015, Marshall was born in France of New Zealand parents. He received his early music education in New South Wales, Australia. Self-taught as a composer, he earned a Masters Degree in Music with Honors from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Fellowship in Composition from Trinity College, London. He held the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago, New Zealand (1994 and 1995), and in 1996 was Fulbright Composer in Residence at the Eastman School of Music. Prior to taking up these positions he spent three years teaching and composing in the South Pacific island nation, Samoa, and for ten years prior to that taught English to Indochinese refugees in Auckland. Many diverse influences can be heard in Marshall’s music, from Brahms to Corigliano to Polynesian chant. However the foundation of all his work is the conviction that music is primarily a means of expressive communication with the listener.  Christopher Marshall’s orchestral, wind ensemble, chamber and choral music has been very widely performed and broadcast particularly in the United States and Europe. His music is accessible, idiomatically written and often exhilarating in its rhythmic ingenuity. It also places great emphasis on expressive memorable melody and frequently delights in integrating diverse stylistic elements. Marshall has received commissions from City of Dunedin Choir, Washington Men’s Camerata, Summit Brass, San Francisco Choral Artists, UMM Symphonic Winds, Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, United States Air Force Academy Band, Richard Stoelzel and Matthew Marshall. Recent premieres include Méndez (2015) for brass band performed by Summit Brass, To The Horizon (2016) for choir, Journeys of the Soul (2016) for orchestra performed by the Auckland Philharmonia, Burning Blue (2017) by UMM Symphonic Winds, and We Gather Together (2022) by the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra. Christopher Marshall’s music is published in the United States by Alliance Music, EC Schirmer and C Alan Publications and in Britain by Maecenas and has been recorded on several American and European labels. In addition, he has his own desktop publishing company, Vaia’ata Print which supplies high quality computer-set editions of his music.