To the Stars (2023)

Instrumentation: Wind Ensemble, Orchestra 3[3.picc] 3[3.EH] 3[3.Bcl] 3[3.Cntrbssn]/4331/Timp+3/Hrp/Str.

Duration: 6:00

Performances:

Missouri S&T Wind Ensemble
David Samson, Conductor
April, 2024
Leach Theatre, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Trinity University Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Jim Worman, Conductor
April, 2024
Laurie Auditorium

Program Notes:

I fondly remember the day my father came home from the library with a VHS copy of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. I must have been no older than seven or eight (certainly not old enough to realize that The Final Frontier is one of the worst Star Trek films), but the moment I saw the Enterprise on screen I was in love. As I got older, I came to realize that Star Trek is about a lot more than spaceships and phaser fights: Star Trek at its best looks at the problems of today through the lens of the future.

The music of Star Trek plays no small part in making it as successful as it has been and as I grew older, I fell in love with the franchise’s extraordinary music. Whether it’s the pointed brass of Alexander Courage and Fred Steiner’s scores for The Original Series or the sweeping strings of James Horner’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the music of Star Trek has played an enormous role in making me the composer I am today.

To the Stars is a love letter to the music of Star Trek. There are obvious nods to moments in Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture and James Horner’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but there’s plenty of my voice here too.

It is my hope that the musicians who play this piece, and the audiences who hear it, are transported beyond our pale blue dot to the cosmos, if only for six minutes.