Year of the Trumpeter

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Year of the Trumpeter (El Año del Trompetista) was composed in 2010 as an homage to four friends of mine who played trumpet and passed away in 2009. Fred Mills played trumpet with the Canadian Brass for 24 years. I met him when I performed with Harvey Phillips and his Tuba Consort when we joined the Canadian Brass in a Christmas concert at Carnegie Hall. I arranged a piccolo descant trumpet part for Fred that he played with the tuba group. We also worked together in Cordoba Argentina in 2006. Linares Rodriguez was a member of the La Armonica Band of Buñol. After he retired from playing, he became the manager for the society’s buildings. When I first lived in Buñol in 1996 we became good friends and sometimes took walking excursions together. Bill Maloof was my first boss as he was Chair of Composition during my first ten years as a faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Nedo Pandolfi was considered a great musical force in Rhode Island. His last concert with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983 was my first performance with the orchestra. At that time he played French Horn but his original instrument was trumpet. Instrumentation is: Piccolo, 2 Flutes 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, Eb Clarinet (Optional), 3 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Alto Saxophones, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, 4 Trumpets, 4 Horns, 3 Trombones, Euphonium, Tuba, Solo Trumpet, Timpani, Cello (Optional). Double Bass (Optional), Percussion (3 players – bass drum, crash cymbals, tam tam, triangle, crotales, bells, vibraphone, chimes)