American Dream - Coming Soon!
This new project celebrates new American music by fantastic composers R. Christopher Tiechler, Jennifer Higdon and JaKobe Henry.
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by R. Christopher Teichler
I. Quarter Note = 92
II. Quarter Note = 63
III. Dotted Quarter Note = 84
This work was commissioned in 2018 and premiered in 2020 at the University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign by Chris O’Hara.
Dr. R. Christopher Teichler has been an active musician for over 40 years as composer, conductor, performer, and teacher. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in Composition from Northwestern University. Chris has received awards for his music from Wheaton College, the Elmhurst Jazz Festival (IL), WFMT 98.7 FM Chicago, the National Band Association, and ASCAP. His music has been performed by ensembles ranging professional symphony orchestra through beginner elementary school bands. His works are published by R.T. Legacy, Alfred Music, Lorenz Music, Kjos Music, TRN Music and BRS Music. His music has been performed at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the Illinois Music Educators Conference, the Baptist Church Music Conference, as well as schools and churches across the United States.
As a conductor, Chris has directed collegiate ensembles including orchestra, wind ensemble, jazz band, choir, musical theatre and opera. Additionally, he has led community ensembles and churches in Illinois, Texas and Kansas. He had the privilege of leading some of his own works with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with distinguished soloists, Phil Smith (trumpet), Todd Wilson (organ) and Christopher O'Hara (trumpet).
Chris has taught composition, conducting, aural skills, trumpet, and piano at several colleges and universities, as well as privately. He is a member of the American Composers Forum, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the College Band Directors National Association (CBNDA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA), and the Kansas Bandmasters Association (KBA). He currently leads the McPherson Brass Choir (KS), and serves as organist at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church (Newton, KS). Since 2019 Chris has served on the faculty of Tabor College (Hillsboro, KS) as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental music. He and his wife Sarah have four beautiful children.
Trumpet Songs by Jennifer Higdon
I. Morning Opens
II. To Home
III. In quiet
IV. Hop & Toe Dance
V. Threaded
VI. Breaking
Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) taught herself to play flute at the age of 15 and began formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Despite these obstacles, Jennifer has become a major figure in contemporary Classical music. Her works represent a wide range of genres, from orchestral to chamber, to wind ensemble, as well as vocal, choral and opera. Her music has been hailed by Fanfare Magazine as having "the distinction of being at once complex, sophisticated but readily accessible emotionally", with the Times of London citing it as "…traditionally rooted, yet imbued with integrity and freshness." The League of American Orchestras reports that she is one of America's most frequently performed composers.
Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Pittsburgh Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well such groups as the Tokyo String Quartet, the Lark Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, and the President's Own Marine Band. She has also written works for such artists as baritone Thomas Hampson, pianists Yuja Wang and Gary Graffman, violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Jennifer Koh and Hilary Hahn. Her first opera, Cold Mountain, won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016; the first American opera to do so in the award's history. Performances of Cold Mountain sold out its premiere run in Santa Fe, North Carolina, and Philadelphia (becoming the third highest selling opera in Opera Philadelphia's history).
Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing the work as "a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity." She has also received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, The Independence Foundation, the NEA, and ASCAP. As winner of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition's American Composers Invitational, Higdon's Secret & Glass Gardens was performed by the semi-finalists during the competition.
Higdon has been a featured composer at many festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, Vail, Norfolk, Grand Teton, and Cabrillo. She has served as Composer-in-Residence with several orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Fort Worth Symphony. She was honored to serve as the Creative Director of the Boundless Series for the Cincinnati Symphony's 2012-13 season. During the 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years Higdon served as the prestigious Barr Laureate Scholar at the University of Missouri Kansas City.
In 2018, Higdon received the Eddie Medora King Award from the Univeristy of Texas, Austin. That same year, she received the prestigious Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University which is awarded to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition.
Higdon enjoys more than 200 performances a year of her works. Her orchestral work, blue cathedral, is the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the repertoire, more than 600 performances since its premiere in 2000.
Her works have been recorded on over 70 CDs. Higdon has won three Grammys in her career for Best Contemporary Classical Composition: first for her Percussion Concerto in 2010, in 2018 for her Viola Concerto and in 2020 for her Harp Concerto.
Dr. Higdon received a Bachelor's Degree in Music from Bowling Green State University, an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Hartt School and Bowling Green State University.
Dr. Higdon's music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press.
Texts by Jennifer Higdon:
I. Morning Opens
The morning opens like a flower from night
I see the stars go to sleep in the light
And as I walk into the morning air thinking of you
In cracks of sidewalks I pick flowers moist with truth
I amble on now through rainbows from sprinklers
I cross the street and wave to neighbors and strangers
I feel I’m floating and I’m flying, I’m the flower from the night
Slowly opens, feels the sun’s rays, from your morning light
A window opens, your face comes in sight
I wave good morning, your face burning bright
I feel my day start from the sunshine in you
The flowers open in love and morning’s light dew
II. To Home
Strings in sweet air
The pines do sing
Under pointed lights of stars
My heart has wings
For my love has crossed my path
Ahead of me tonight
As we wander through the woods
Under moon and evening’s light
Whippoorwills call
I hear her voice ahead
Sweetly call my name
To home to crawl in bed
III. In our quiet
Now I lay me down to sleep
In our quiet safety…
Peaceful clock and shadows mark
The timelessness of our love…
Your warmth and our dreams
Dance together tonight…
And I can drift in your arms
Knowing…knowing…knowing…
The quilt connects us both
But heart connects us all…
And I reach out to feel you
Just as our souls once did…
In our quiet safety
IV. Hop & Toe Dance
Hop & Toe Dance, heel and sing
A sprightly jig my sweetheart brings
To fly & light upon the clouds
I rise to leap, jump and dance out loud
You ask, I see, of what is this?
From me, I cry, it was a kiss
And then you see, I fly like doves
I spring up skywards, I’m in love
V. Threaded
Threaded days like stems of roses
Crawl, entwine in sunray poses
We rock in song on wood-crossed floors
In tip-toe dancing with love-struck chords
Threaded nights
Stars like pearls
Shift night-time rays
In love we curl
We sing a dance
In whispered needs
A loving flower
A rose’s seed
VI. Breaking
Floating down
Through clouds we with dark
My hands outstretch to feel
Where I will grasp a limb to
Stop my falling down,
My falling down heavily down
And the grace of your hand
Grips my soul
Pulling up gently
Through breaking rays
In the gray dappled sky
And the rain becomes
Dew as I grasp you
American Dream (Sonata for Trumpet and Piano) by JaKobe Henry
I. Chugga, Chugga, Chugga
II. Discovery
III. Salvation
Dr. JaKobe Henry is a genre-bending trumpet player, educator, researcher, and composer/arranger. He completed his DMA in Jazz Performance and his MM in Classical Trumpet Performance at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His BA is in Music Education K-12 from Jacksonville State University in Alabama. JaKobe’s past instructors include Charles Daval, Jim Pugh, Ronald Romm, Pat Harbinson, Tito Carrillo, Dr. Chris Probst, Dr. James Woodward, and several premier military band members.
JaKobe presented his research on trailblazing trumpeter Barbara Donald at the International Women’s Brass Conference and the International Trumpet Guild Conference in the summer of 2025. He has served on the judging committee for the Junior Division of the National Trumpet Competition since 2024, and that year also brought national and international recognition, including an Air Force Band Diversity Fellowship and selection for the International Trumpet Guild’s New Work Competition. In 2022, JaKobe competed in the live round of the Graduate Solo, Military Band Excerpt, and Small Ensemble divisions of the National Trumpet Competition in Boulder, CO.
JaKobe has had the privilege of playing in and learning the style and various roles in almost every standard music ensemble. These ensemble formats include Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, Brass Quintet, Trumpet Ensemble, Latin Jazz Ensemble, Big Band, Jazz Combo, Pep Band, and Marching Band. JaKobe is an Assistant Professor of Music at Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA.
Deadline by R. Christopher Teichler
This work was commissioned in 2014 and premiered in 2015 at the International Trumpet Guild Conference at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT) by Chris O’Hara.