James M. David (b. 1978)
Dr. James M. David is an internationally recognized composer who currently serves as professor of music composition at Colorado State University and is particularly known for his works involving winds and percussion. His symphonic works for winds have been performed by numerous prominent professional and university ensembles including the U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Army Field Band, the Dallas Winds, the Des Moines Symphony, the Showa Wind Symphony (Japan), and the North Texas Wind Symphony among many others. His compositions have been presented at more than sixty national and international conferences throughout North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. These events include the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the American Bandmasters Association Convention, the College Band Directors National Association Conferences, the College Music Society National Conference, the Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, seven International Clarinet Fests, the International Horn Symposium, the World Saxophone Congress, the International Trombone Festival, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Among the distinctions David has earned as a composer are winner of the 2022 William D. Revelli Composition Contest, an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, the National Band Association Merrill Jones Award, national first-place winner in the MTNA Young Artists Composition Competition, two Global Music Awards, and national first-place winner in the National Association of Composers (USA) Young Composers Competition. Commissions include projects for Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic), John Bruce Yeh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Zachary Shemon (Prism Quartet), the Aries Trombone Quartet, BlueShift Percussion Quartet, Gerry Pagano (St. Louis Symphony), The Playground Ensemble, the National Band Association, and the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association.
As a native of southern Georgia, Dr. David began his musical training under his father Joe A. David, III, a renowned high school band director and professor of music education in the region. This lineage can be heard in his music through the strong influence of jazz and other Southern traditional music mixed with contemporary idioms. He graduated with honors from the University of Georgia and completed his doctorate in composition at Florida State University under Guggenheim and Pulitzer recipients Ladislav Kubik and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. His works are represented on over twenty commercially released recordings on the Naxos, Summit, Mark, Albany, Parma, MSR Classics, GIA Windworks, and Luminescence labels and are published by Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Potenza Publishing, and Excelsia Music.
Flying Jewels (2021)
Flying Jewels is a symphonic poem for wind ensemble that attempts to capture the joyous and hopeful spirit of a famous essay by the late author Brian Doyle. The title refers to how Europeans described hummingbirds when first encountering them in North America. Doyle’s essay muses on how intensely and passionately these tiny birds live their lives, with their hearts beating “ten times a second.” He also considers the blue whale’s giant heart, which beats as little as eight times a minute and can be heard from miles away. Ultimately, the essay asserts the connection that all people and creatures share: we all have one heart that carries us through life’s struggles, victories, and simple pleasures. My composition deals with the themes of Doyle’s essay by depicting the heart rhythms of different creatures through various metric/tempo modulations and relationships. First is the hummingbird, flitting about with bright flourishes from woodwinds and metallic percussion at superhuman speeds. A reptile’s three-chambered heart is heard next with nods to the triple-meter dances of the Caribbean. At the center of the work is the human heart, which is a simple tune that slowly builds to a cadence at the heart rate of a blue whale: four giant chords that resound under the ocean depths. Finally, the work recapitulates each idea while gaining speed to combine all of the tempi in an exuberant and ecstatic finale. This work was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band, Col. Don Schofield, commander and conductor.
-Program Note by Composer
Instrumentation
For Wind Symphony
Performer
The United States Air Force Band
Conducted by Col. Don Schofield
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8 май 2023
