John Mackey (b. 1973)
John Mackey (he/him) has written for orchestras (Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Youth Symphony), theater (Dallas Theater Center), and extensively for dance (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Parsons Dance Company, New York City Ballet), but the majority of his work for the past decade has been for wind ensembles (the fancy name for concert bands), and his band catalog now receives annual performances numbering in the thousands.
Recent commissions include works for the BBC Singers, the Dallas Wind Symphony, military, high school, middle school, and university bands across America and Japan, and concertos for Joseph Alessi (principal trombone, New York Philharmonic), Christopher Martin (principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic), and Julian Bliss (international clarinet soloist). In 2014, he became the youngest composer ever inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. In 2018, he received the Wladimir & Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He resides in San Francisco, California, with his spouse, A. E. Jaques, a philosopher who works on the ethics of artificial intelligence for MIT, and also titles all of his pieces; and their cats, Noodle and Bloop.
Kingfishers Catch Fire (2007)
I. Following falls and falls of rain (0:08)
II. Kingfishers catch Fire (5:40)
A kingfisher is a bird with beautiful, brilliantly colored feathers that look in sunlight as if they are on fire. Kingfishers are extremely shy birds and are rarely seen, but when they are seen, they are undeniably beautiful.
The first movement, Following Falls and Falls of Rain, is suspended in tone, but with hope, depicting the kingfisher slowly emerging from its nest in the early morning stillness, just after a heavy rain storm. The second movement, Kingfishers Catch Fire, imagines the bird flying out into the sunlight.
The work features optional antiphonal trumpets placed behind the audience. The trumpet solo in the first movement is played from the back of the hall, and the trumpet flourishes in the second movement are played by the antiphonal trumpet choir. You may catch the reference to Stravinsky's Firebird at the end of the piece.
Kingfishers Catch Fire was commissioned by Kentaro Hino (Hikarigaoka Girls' High School), Mamoru Nakata (Wind Ensemble du Nord), Masafumi Matsumoto (Okayama Sanyo High School), Kotai Yo (Wind Ensemble "KANADE"), Toshiya Iwata (Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare "Heartful Winds"), Taizo Okuyama (Wind Ensemble Soleil), and Shintaro Fukumoto (Community Band of Sagamihara). Consortium organized by Mamoru Nakata.
The work was premiered on March 17, 2007, JWECC '07 Special Band, conducted by Ichiro Saito.
-Program Note by Composer
Instrumentation
For Wind Ensemble
Performer
North Texas Wind Symphony
Conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon
Errata
There is a piano part in the second movement, but it is not indicated on the instrumentation page of the score.
Chimes part, mvt. 2, m.192: First note of grace note group should be a B-flat and not an A.
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