Symphony No. 1: "The Eternal Present"
I’m thrilled to share that my friend and colleague Josh Trentadue will be collaborating with me on an exciting project - the creation of a brand-new, large-scale work for wind band based on my chamber trio Symphony No. 1: "The Eternal Present" which was originally composed in 2019.
The commission is being led by Dr. Matthew Arau and the Lawrence University Symphonic Band, who will premiere Josh’s arrangement of my piece in March 2025.
The arrangement will be approximately 15 to 20 minutes in length divided into four movements (as detailed below). The buy-in to join is $500 for collegiate & professional groups, and $250 for high schools. Consortium exclusivity will be granted from March 1, 2025-February 26, 2026. Finally, two of the four movements may be performed separately and can fulfill the terms of a consortium premiere for this work.
Interested? Fill out the form below to learn more about the project or to request a purchase order to become part of the consortium!
About the Piece
Symphony No. 1 was originally composed in 2019 for the New York-based Oasi Trio (violin, bass clarinet, and piano) who had planned to premiere it in May 2020 before the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately cancelled their concert. The piece, which takes its title and inspiration from a quote from William Manchester's book "A World Lit Only by Fire,” is comprised of four movements:
I - "the significant"
II - "the trivial"
III - "the profound"
IV - "the fatuous”
It’s a sweeping musical reflection on the simultaneous significance and insignificance of our human experiences in the broad context of history. As part of Josh's arrangement process, he'll be expanding on my work to tailor it to the symphonic band format.
About Josh Trentadue
Josh Trentadue (b. 1994) is an artist who creates music about humanity, nature, life, and everything in between. Balancing electrifying rhythms with ethereal lyricism and ambient textures, he provides immersive and transformative experiences for performers and audiences everywhere.
Trentadue’s compositions and arrangements have been performed in the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, and more, and have made appearances at The Midwest Clinic, the Cortona Sessions for New Music, CBDNA, NASA, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the Michigan Music Conference, and PASIC. Short films that Trentadue has scored have received screenings at the British Film Institute Future Film Festival, the TIDE Film Festival, the National
Film Festival for Talented Youth, and the Asian Film Festival - Los Angeles. He has received awards, recognition, and honorable mentions from The American Prize, the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Music Publishers Association of the United States, Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame, the Columbia Summer Winds Outdoor Composition Contest, and the Dallas Winds Brass Fanfare Competition. Several of Trentadue’s arrangements have additionally been selected for JWPepper’s Editors’ Choice series.
Trentadue is the current Production Editor for TUX People’s Music and a member of the Aurora Tapestry Collective with composers Kevin Day, Harrison J. Collins, and Katahj Copley. He holds a Master of Music Degree in Composition, Screen Scoring from New York University, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition from Michigan State University.
Preview Symphony No. 1: "The Eternal Present"
Movement I - "the significant"
Movement II - "the trivial"
Movement III - "the profound"
Program Notes
by Isaac Mayhew
My first symphony was first conceived of as a chamber work for violin, bass clarinet, and piano—I composed it in 2019 for the then-New York City-based Oasi Trio, who were planning to premiere it sometime in late Spring/early Summer 2020. The inspiration for this work—and the titles of each of the four movements—comes from a quote from William Manchester's book "A World Lit Only by Fire", discussing the ways in which Europeans in the years immediately preceding the dawn of the Renaissance failed to see what was coming: When we look back across five centuries, the implications of the Renaissance appear to be obvious. It seems astonishing that no one saw where it was leading, anticipating what lay round the next bend in the road and then over the horizon. But they lacked our perspective; they could not hold a mirror up to the future. Like all people at all times, they were confronted each day by the present...with the significant, the trivial, the profound, and the fatuous all tangled together. I first read this quote in 2019, a time when I thought I understood what it meant to feel uncertain about the future. Americans faced a barrage of shocking headlines, from political chaos to violence, and I was navigating my own transitions—career changes, a new relationship, loss, and self-discovery. Looking back, I realize how naive that was. Just months later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, and local events in the Twin Cities sparked global protests. Today, with wars, scandals, and climate crises abound, it’s clear that uncertainty is timeless. In times of uncertainty—and this current moment ought to qualify—I find history to be instructive and comforting in that it reminds me that we are all small in the grand scheme of things. Our lives hold meaning because they matter to us, but to worry too much about what is outside of our control is ultimately foolish, since it is really impossible to know where things will lead. In composing this symphony "The Eternal Present", my goal is not to suggest that we should not take into consideration the future implications of our actions, but rather remind all of us that the lives that are right in front of us, today, are gifts that should be cherished. It is meant to be a reflection on how we interpret our place in the world amidst uncertainty and change. It suggests that while we may not always see the bigger picture or understand what lies ahead, there is value in embracing the present moment in all its complexity. Through its four movements, the symphony aims to capture the human experience, with all its significance, triviality, profundity, and absurdity, reminding us to find meaning and joy in the unpredictable flow of life.
Arranger's Notes
by Josh Trentadue
I first met Isaac Mayhew shortly after the Millennium Composers Initiative was formed. Since then, I've not only admired the work that he has accomplished as a composer and artist all these years, but I've also come to consider him as a good friend and colleague with a common vision of bringing together community through art that speaks to our species. I had known about the original chamber version of this particular work for several years now and was thrilled when it finally premiered after its initial cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Isaac approached me about arranging this chamber work into a full-fledged symphony for wind ensemble, I took another look at what inspired him to write the piece - William Manchester's book "A World Lit Only by Fire". Mark Twain is attributed with once saying that "History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme." Although much has changed since the Middle Ages and Renaissance (periods of history which the book covers), I believe that this particular era of history appears to indeed be rhyming with us in some shape or form. Like the people of that era, we cannot hold a mirror up to our own future. We exist within our present, in all of its messes and beauty. Just as the people of those earlier eras do not have our perspective, we do not have the perspective of the people beyond us who will exist in our future. We cannot predict what will happen next. We can only strive to work towards a better future for ourselves and for our community. This is what ultimately compelled me to complete this arrangement, which builds upon Isaac's initial ideas as well as provides my own musical interpretations of Manchester's book. I am so grateful to Isaac and Dr. Matthew Arau for entrusting me with this project, and I look forward to hearing the world premiere of this piece later this academic year.