Bluffs

Instrumentation: Wind Ensemble (2.1.1.3 | 0.2.1.1 | 3.2.2.Euph.1 | db. | T + 3)
Duration: 5 minutes
Year: 2024

Program Notes

Written with the generous support from the Ontario Arts Council’s Music Creation Grant (2023), the work Bluffs is a tribute to the great Niagara Bluffs that stretch from Wisconsin in the US into southern Ontario. Recognized as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, this geological formation rises up from the lake shore into monumental cliffs that support the oldest forest ecosystem and trees in eastern North America.

Mirroring the physical aspect of the Bluffs, the piece for intermediate-level concert band begins with quiet woodwinds evoking the undulation of water rippling on Lake Ontario that gradually culminates in a Sibelius-esque chorale for brass near the end of the piece representing the rising of the Bluffs.