Program Notes
Red Giant (2023) depicts the red giant stage of the life cycle of a star. Before this point, the outward pressure of nuclear fusion balances the inward pressure of gravity, but over time the star's core fusion ceases, gravity compresses the star, its helium core contracts, and the star expands, its luminosity intensifying (hence the illustrative term "red giant"). The sax quartet portrays this celestial transformation through expanding and contracting note values, gestures that brighten through registral change, and increasing tempi. Huge thanks to Matthew Younglove, Joshua Thomas, the Assembly Quartet, and the consortium of saxophonists who commissioned this work as part of the Assembly Quartet Pedagogy Project.
Additional Information
This work was commissioned by a consortium of saxophonists organized by Matthew Younglove and Joshua Thomas as a part of the Assembly Quartet Pedagogy Project. Assembly Quartet members are Adam Estes, Ian Jeffress, Jeffrey Heisler, Matthew Younglove.
Consortium members include: Erik Aguirre, Crystal Alexander, Logan Banister, Brina Bourliea, Michael Bovenzi, Luke Bowman, Caleb Brown, Jayson Brown, Southern Saxophones, Dr. Paul Cohen, Ryan Contreras, Jacob Cronan, Joe D’Aleo, Stephen Davis, Nate Downey, Aaron M. Durst, Dannel Espinoza, Adam Estes, Cathy Ettle, Alexander Granados, Derek Granger, Andy Hall, Andrew Harrison, Barbara Hawkinson, Martin L. Heger, Jr., Amanda Heim, Jeffrey Heisler, Tyler Hewett, Li-Chun Hsiao, Joshua Huff, Andrew Hutchens, Cary Jacobs, Michael N. Jacobson, Ian Jeffress, Sheldon Johnson, Dekylan Jones, Marcus Jones Jr., Jeremy Justeson, Garret Klauss, Garrett Krawczyk, Jason Kush, Ryan C. Lemoine, Paul Lessard, Terry Levins, Gregory E. Lewis, Jeffrey Loeffert, Samuel Lorber, Stacy Maugans, Adam McCord, Walter McCray, Colton McManus, Nathan Mertens, Braiden Messerschmidt, A. Daniel Miller, Jayley Mink, Yiannis Miralis, Gage Moore, Gonzalo Murillo, Sean Ohmann, Matt Olson, Julian Orem, Miles Osland (Professor of Saxophone, University of Kentucky), Stephen Padgett, James Pecsok, Cote Peña, Thomas Plotzke III, Kaitlyn Robbins, Karen Roll Gardener, James Romain, Nicki Roman, Perry Roth, John Sampen, Alex Sellers, Inbo Shim, Jacob Smith, Zeke Spirko, David Stambler and the Margot Music Fund, Noah Stephenson, Gabriel Szcinski, Brett Thole, Joshua Thomas, Brian Utley, Drew Whiting, Jeffrey Wiles, and Matthew Younglove
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