PROGRAM NOTES

Bismuth offers a musical analogy for the crystallization of creative ideas. Echoing the tessellating, iridescent nature of its metallic namesake, Bismuth leverages the wide variety of expressive possibilities of the solo trumpet. Melodic fragments suggest the bright, colorful, angular forms assumed by crystalizing ideas. Throughout Bismuth, they shift and morph, often changing abruptly in an intuitive progression, imitating the unfolding thought processes of an introspective mind.

7 minutes | Solo Trumpet in C, Unaccompanied | 2018, revised 2025

Commissioned: Alan Siebert, Professor of Trumpet (retired), University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music