The IUP Trumpet Ensemble presented its annual spring recital on Thursday, April 12 in Gorell Hall on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus.  All of the works performed on this recital featured trumpets with percussion.  Assisting the Trumpet Ensemble were members of the IUP Percussion Ensemble.  The IUP Trumpet Ensemble is led by Dr. Kevin E. Eisensmith.  Dr. Michael Kingan is Director of Percussion Studies at IUP and directs the IUP Percussion Ensemble.

Works performed included:

• Turrin - Festival Fanfare
• Cheetham - Fanfare: Continental Harmony
• Watson - Fanfare Esprit
• Altenburg - Concerto
• Marlatt - Festival Fanfare
• Marlatt, arr. - Siyahamba
• Marlatt, arr. - Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
• Respighi / Schlup - Finale from Pines of Rome

Dr. David Ferguson, Assistant Professor of Trumpet at IUP, conducted the world premiere performance of David Marlatt’s Shadows of the Pyramids, a 14-minute work for 20 trumpets, percussion, and piano.  This piece was commissioned by the IUP Trumpet Ensemble, and is meant to add a work, substantial in length, to the repertoire for large trumpet ensemble.  The piece is based on the Egyptian story of Ra, the Sun God, one of the most important characters in their mythology.  The final movement, “Amun-Ra, The King of the Gods,” was performed at the 2006 International Trumpet Guild Conference, which was held at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.

David Marlatt has composed several pieces for concert band, string orchestra, brass quintet, trumpet ensemble, piano, tuba and trumpet. His writing style is diverse and he has written for a wide range of difficulty levels from very young concert band to professional brass quintet.  His jazz based trumpet ensemble pieces Groovy Vamp and A Coconut Named Alex have been very well received by audiences everywhere and his concert band compositions are found on many festival lists.  He has also arranged over 600 pieces of repertoire from the Baroque to the Romantic eras such as Monteverdi madrigals, a large suite of music from Handel’s Messiah, Largo from New World Symphony and even Mahler’s First Symphony.  Mr. Marlatt is a trumpet player who obtained a music education degree from the University of Western Ontario. He was Principal Cornet in the Whitby Brass Band for 6 years and founder of the trumpet ensemble Trumpets in Style.  As a performer, he has played in jazz bands, brass quintets, orchestras, concert bands, brass bands, and period instrument ensembles.  Mr. Marlatt is President and CEO of Eighth Note Publications, based in Toronto, Canada.  He traveled to IUP and was present for the premier.