Bryan Lastrella
The idea from this piece quite literally blossomed after meditating on a flower. This brought me to remember those magical time lapse videos of plants growing and flowering. From there I had the seed for the entire composition.
I begin the piece with Bb in octaves, focusing on instruments that have a fast articulation and little sustain as if a seed has been plucked. From there, I focus on contrasting low and darker timbres against, higher and brighter timbres while a pattern begins to emerge. Slowly, from the initial pattern, other patterns begin to form like vines stretching out for the sun. Harmonically it remains fairly stable until the second section begins. Here we rock back and forth between two different tonal centers similar to how a plant will rock back and-forth as it follows the arch of the sun. This section speeds up rapidly until the entire orchestra is playing; from there we begin to slow down quite a bit as the piece starts to focus on the plant's bud that is slowly beginning to flower and open. Here more colorful harmonies show up before the flower finally blooms and a lone seed is once again plucked and planted ready for a new life to begin.
* - MSU Denver Faculty/Staff Member
# - Guest artist from the Colorado Wind EnsembleViolin:
Emory Dombkowski, Concertmaster
Debra Robinson, Principal Second Violin
Sam Cooper, Assistant Conductor
Frankie Domenico
Philip Ficsor*
Layla Ghiasi
Jessica Lee
Quinn Rubin
Kaitlin Scott
Mei Mey Segura*
William Trevizo
Bradley Watson*
Renee Whitney
Viola:
Jameson Kaiser, Principal
Philip Stevens*
Alexandra Sylvester
Riley Williams
Cello:
Jesse Molina, Principal
Gwenyth Timm
Maxwell Cooper
Morgan Stengl
Bass:
Ruby Godoy Flores, Principal
David Crowe*
Flute:
Christopher Prado, Principal
Valerie Erickson#
Kristen Tracy
Piccolo:
Valerie Erickson#
Oboe:
Jesse Winchester, Principal
Geoffrey Long#
Clarinet:
Patti Galleher, Principal
Jaymie Giordano
Dallan Heard
Sabrina Lalinde Fischer
Bassoon:
Darryl Nakatani, Principal
Emerson Farina
Horn:
Jonathan Westerfield, Principal
Jade Albert
Tali Linton
Michael True
Trumpet:
Braden Collison, Principal
Peyton Brauch
Trombone:
Ryan Krofta, Principal
Bill Skulley#
Neil Guy#
Tuba:
Fiona Stever
Harp:
Jenna Hunt*
Percussion:
Jackson Bingham, Principal
Michael Darnell
Jakob Garcia
John Green#