During my collegiate career, I’ve been fortunate to meet a number of highly talented musicians and collaborate on a variety of projects. This was one of the first, written during my freshman year for a brass quintet comprised entirely of my friends and classmates. It was a learning experience for all of us, as they were a newly-formed group and I was just starting to get my feet under me from a compositional standpoint.

Despite its fairly generic beginning as an attempt to write a brass quintet for college-level musicians, Supernova turned into an exploration of functional harmony in a brass setting. Traditional brass techniques combine with fanfare, jazz, and ballad sections to produce a triumphant sound with a dark edge. Drawing on the power, articulation, versatility, and nuance of the brass quintet creates a constantly shifting timbral experience. Supernova journeys through multiple different feels, eventually incorporating aspects of each in a tumultuous moment.