D a v i d   V e s s

Of Cosmos and Canyons is a concerto for tuba and wind ensemble, commissioned by Dr. Donald Running and the Bridgewater State University Wind Ensemble. I served as professor of tuba and composition there for four years, which was a formative experience that ultimately set me on my path as an academic. This piece is a return for me. During my time at Bridgewater, I had several composition students who were deeply interested in film music and video game scores. Their enthusiasm sent me back to my own beginnings, to a time before I knew music would be my life's work, when I simply loved listening to the scores of great films: Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings, Don Davis's The Matrix, and of course John Williams's extraordinary work for Star Wars. For games, Nobuo Uematsu's writing for Final Fantasy was revelatory. These composers (and more) instilled in me a love for dramatic moments and storytelling in music. In conservatory, I felt pressure to set those early influences aside. It was acceptable to have loved them — but not something you ever brought up. And so when my own students arrived, lit up by the same music that had first ignited me, I faced a full-circle moment: if I am to teach them to be fearless composers, to draw freely from the world around them, then I must practice what I preach. I set out to write a work rooted in those early influences unabashedly, and with gratitude. The original working title was Nobuo Smiles in a Field of Cosmic Grace. A portion of the middle movement was premiered at the Honor Band Concert in February 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the complete premiere, and the work continues to develop toward future completion and performance.