Concerto for Euphonium

Shawn E. Okpebholo

2011

Euphonium, piano

Shawn E. Okpebholo's Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra was premiered by Steven Mead at the 35th International Tuba and Euphonium Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio in June of 2008. The composer has this to write about the piece: The first movement, Windows, was inspired when I was looking out of several windows one afternoon and noticing different scenes. While many different events were happening simultaneously, all seemed to be working in sync. Movement II, Invitation to Music, is a re-orchestration of a movement of a song cycle I composed for soprano, clarinet, and piano. The song cycle, On Music, was set to the poetry of Beatrice Holz. Guanabacoa, the title of Movement III, is the name of a small town near Havana, Cuba where Afro-Cuban music is prominent, and where Ernesto Lecuona, a Cuban composer known for his Afro-Cuban music, was born. Lecuona's composition, La Comparsa, uses a very distinct Afro-Cuban rhythm that is the basis of this movement.