New Music by Young Composers

 We are excited to share new music at our April 11 concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Theatre. Tickets at https://www.myosu.org/tickets

You can preview most of the music at https://www.myosu.org/listening-links

Concert article: https://osucedarcity.blogspot.com/2024/03/exciting-new-music-for-april-11.html


Guest Composer 

Marshall McDonald is a pianist, composer, and arranger from Salt Lake City, Utah. He is an
accomplished musician with numerous bestselling albums and sheet music books. He is a “go to” musician in the state of Utah for orchestrating, arranging, and producing music.

Marshall was honored to be a guest soloist of the Tabernacle Choir playing his arrangement of “If You Could Hie To Kolob” on its weekly broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. His music is prominently featured in the films “17 Miracles,” “Ephraim’s Rescue” “Christmas Oranges” and most recently “Escape from Germany.” He has written two commissioned symphonies for the Orchestra of Southern Utah entitled  “Africa” and the “Spanish Trail Suite.”

Marshall holds a Guinness Book of World Records for writing the music to the largest live
nativity ever assembled as featured in the YouTube video “Angels from the Realms of Glory”
featuring which has been viewed over 200 million times on YouTube. His music is also often
used by the group The Piano Guys.

Marshall was recently awarded by Governor and First Lady Cox The Governor’s Mansion Medal of the Arts as Utah’s musician of the year in 2023.

Marshall is a fulltime Institute teacher at the University of Utah and also currently serves as the music coordinator for the Church Educational System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife Kristien and their 6 children live in Salt Lake City.
His music website is at https://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hal Campbell Composition Contest Honorees

Bryan L. Welton III (b. 2001) is a conductor, composer, percussionist, and software engineer from Lake Oswego, Oregon. As a young and upcoming student, he is attending BYU-Idaho and will graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering, and double minoring in Music and Chinese Language. 

As a composer, he composes music that portrays strong emotions and feelings, drawing heavy inspiration from cinema scores. He has been composing for most of his life and has been studying composition in his free time under many great teachers. His goal with each composition is to leave both listeners and players feeling like they’ve been on an emotional journey or have learned something deeper about life. His motto with composition is “I’ll never write a piece that doesn’t have a point”

As a percussionist, he has played with high school groups, community theaters, and has toured nationally with his university’s Symphony Band and Symphony Orchestra.

He has written many compositions for various ensemble types, including solo piano, string quintet, marching drum corps, indoor percussion, wind ensemble, concert band, choir, and more.

Evan Chamberlain has been playing piano since the age of 5 and French horn since the 8th grade. He recently completed a Bachelor’s of Music Education at Brigham Young University-Idaho, studying Horn and Composition. Evan’s passion for music stems from his parent’s musical background, and from film scores, such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

Both in and out of school, Evan has participated in many types of music making, including orchestral, choral, and jazz ensembles, brass and wind quintets, piano accompaniment, and solo performance on both horn and piano. He took private lessons in composition and gave a distinguished recital of his music while in his senior year of university studies.

He considers his composition style to be a mix of early modernist styles and French impressionism. This stems from the influences of composers such as Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, Copland, and Hovhaness, along with the great film composers of our day. Evan sees music primarily as a form of human expression and communication, and it is the collaborative effort of composer, performer, and listener to understand and make sense of the message that leads to truly wondrous musical experiences.

In his free time, Evan enjoys distance running, reading fantasy and informational texts, building miniature models of castles, reading about and listening to music (surprise!), and spending time with his family and friends. He currently resides in the Sacramento valley of California.

Born in American Fork, Utah in 2004, Landon Fowles grew up in Eagle Mountain. In
seventh grade, he began playing the trumpet. He joined the Westlake High School Marching
Band in his ninth-grade year, while still attending middle school. Landon was a founding
member of the Cedar Valley High School’s Crimson Regiment, starting his time there as a
section leader. While in high school, Landon was a featured soloist countless times in the wind
symphony as well as the marching band. During his senior year in high school, Landon started
arranging music for marching band/pep band and brass quintet. He was also selected to
participate in the All State Wind Symphony as well as being awarded the John Phillips Sousa
Band Award. Following high school, Landon earned the Presidential Music Scholarship to
attend Southern Utah University. He started composing music during his freshman year of
college. While in his first semester, he collaborated with a classmate to film a 10-minute short
film, which Landon scored. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience and scored another short film
this past summer. He is currently in his sophomore year, studying Music Education at SUU. He
aspires to be a music educator, film composer, and professional trumpet player.

Watts Mason began his musical journey at five years old as a piano student. Self-taught and driven by an unwavering passion for composition, Mason's artistic endeavors truly took flight around the age of 19. Since then, he has carved a distinctive niche for himself in the realm of music, seamlessly blending skillful craftsmanship with the emotive storytelling of his compositions.

Mason's music transcends traditional boundaries, reflecting a dynamic fusion of genres mainly featuring late-romantic styles intertwined with more contemporary ideas. His dedication to the craft and unique, self-taught perspective infuse his work with a refreshing authenticity. He has been writing for orchestra for 8 months now and hopes to continue his journey of exploration of all instruments and styles.

Composition Contest Honorable Mention

Sarah Roundy is a 19 year-old composer from Boise, Idaho. Sarah graduated Centennial High

School in 2023 and is pursuing further studies at Brigham Young University majoring in Commercial

Music with an emphasis in Film and Media Composition, expected graduation in 2028. Creating music is

her passion and she’s been doing so her entire life. She has studied piano for 14 years and also plays cello,

bass, and percussion. Until recently, Sarah was studying composition with Dr. Alexander at Boise State

University. Her compositions have been played at the Idaho Music Educator’s Association conference and

have also been played by the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Centennial High School Chamber

Orchestra. She’s grateful to the Orchestra of Southern Utah for giving her the opportunity to hear one of

her compositions performed by a professional orchestra.

Short description of her composition: 

Ex Nihilo is one of three movements in a collection of works titled Tenebris Ad Lucem meaning

“Out of darkness to the light.” These three movements follow the journey of space pioneers searching for

a new home because their former planet fell into ruin. The three movements' purpose is to convey the

journey and the emotions of the space travelers. The movement being performed is titled Ex Nihilo

meaning “Out of Nothing.” It depicts the takeoff of the pioneer’s rocket ship as they depart from their

dead planet and venture into the infinite expanse of space.