Gloriosa
Saturday, September 13, 2025 – 7:30 PM @ King Center Concert Hall
With Guest Conductor Dr. John R. Locke
The Colorado Wind Ensemble is proud to open our 2025–2026 season with a concert that lives up to its name: Gloriosa.
This sweeping and radiant program, featuring guest conductor Dr. John R. Locke, is a celebration of bold soundscapes, rich emotions, and musical storytelling. Join us at the King Center on Saturday, September 13 for a powerful night of wind band brilliance, featuring composers who challenge, uplift, and move us.
About the Program
Each piece on this program captures a different shade of glory—from the majestic to the intimate, from the natural to the mythic.
Resplendent Glory – Rossano Galante
Written in a “romantic/heroic” style, this impressive overture features sweeping and lush melodies along with brilliant brass fanfares and woodwind flourishes to set the tone for a night full of energy and grandeur.
Petrichor – Charlie Johnson (Inclusive Repertoire Award winner)
“Petrichor refers to the smell of the earth after rain. At the time that I was writing this piece, I was in the final semester of my undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Towards the end of that semester, the weather became increasingly rainy. One afternoon in April, I was walking from campus to my apartment and the earthy smell of petrichor completely overwhelmed me with nostalgia. The smell of the soil reminded me of growing up in Minnesota and this made me feel incredibly homesick. I find petrichor to be an incredibly comforting scent and while it made me miss my home, I was able to find some comfort in knowing that I would eventually be able to go back to my friends and family in Minnesota. This piece is meant to portray the bittersweet nostalgia that I experienced as well as the comfort that I eventually found in the smell of petrichor.” —Charlie Johnson, composer
Sunrise at Angel’s Gate – Philip Sparke (conducted by Dr. John R. Locke)
This resplendent work takes its inspiration from the composer’s first experience watching the sun rise over the glorious rock formations of the Grand Canyon. This amazing natural phenomenon is portrayed here, with colors that become deeper and clearer as the Canyon slowly reveals itself in the early light of dawn.
Wild Nights – Frank Ticheli
A lively and unbridled musical romp inspired by the Emily Dickinson poem of the same title. The constant motion and numerous surprises create a mood of unbridled joy and delight that is unrelenting from the opening statement to the final cadence.
Glory of the Yankee Navy – John Philip Sousa
No wind ensemble season is complete without a Sousa classic! This lesser-known march is pure vintage patriotism and pageantry, full of bounce and brilliance. Written for the musical comedy The Yankee Girl and dedicated to its star, Blanche Ring, this spirited march overflows with vintage patriotism, pageantry, and sparkle. Originally titled Uncle Sam’s Navy and later The Honor of the Yankee Navy, it stands out as one of Sousa’s most melodic works., featuring interesting low brass lines and a great piccolo solo!
Deciduous – Viet Cuong
“For a long time after my father passed away, I felt like I had “lost my leaves.” In the ways that leaves harness light to create energy for trees and plants, I felt like I had so little left to harness creatively. Many days I feared those leaves would never grow back. After struggling for months to write, I finally found some healing while creating Deciduous. This involved revisiting chord progressions that brought me solace throughout my life and activating them in textures that I have enjoyed exploring in recent years. The piece cycles through these chord progressions, building to a moment where it’s stripped of everything and must find a way to renew itself. While I continue to struggle with this loss, I have come to understand that healing is not as much of a linear process as it is a cyclical journey, where, without fail, every leafless winter is followed by a spring.” —Viet Cuong, composer
Gloriosa – Yasuhide Ito
The title work is a spiritual and musical fusion of Japanese and Western compositional tradition. This moving tribute to early Christianity in Japan beautifully illustrates the idea of cross-cultural conflict and resolution. Gloriosa is both reverent and revolutionary, with massive crescendos and haunting chant motifs that bring the evening to a transcendent close.
🎟️ Join Us!
Celebrate the start of a vibrant season with music that soars. Gloriosa is more than a concert—it’s an invitation to feel the power of live performance at its most breathtaking.
🗓️ Saturday, September 13, 2025
🕢 7:30 PM
📍 King Center Concert Hall, 855 Lawrence Way, Denver, CO 80204
About Our Guest Conductor: Dr. John R. Locke
Dr. John R. Locke served as Director of Bands and Wind Ensemble conductor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1982 until his retirement in 2018. A renowned conductor and educator, Dr. Locke has led performances at prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Dvorak Hall. Under his leadership, the UNCG Wind Ensemble released 21 acclaimed recordings, including the Grammy-recognized fireworks! album. He has guest conducted premier U.S. military bands and top university ensembles nationwide. Dr. Locke is the founder of UNCG’s Summer Music Camp—now the largest of its kind in the U.S.—and is a past president of the American Bandmasters Association. His numerous honors include The Order of the Longleaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian award, and induction into the NCMEA Hall of Fame.
Meet Our Inclusive Repertoire Award Winner:
Charlie Drew Johnson
Charlie Drew Johnson (b. 2002 in Minneapolis, MN) is a composer, musician, and educator based in Eugene, OR. Johnson’s music explores an eclectic range of styles for a variety of ensembles and solo instruments as well as electroacoustic music. They have had their works premiered and performed throughout the United States and at several conferences such as the Great Plains and Northwest Regional Tuba Euphonium Conferences, and the Oregon Music Educators Association Conference. Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln and they are currently pursuing a master’s degree in music composition under Dr. Robert Kyr at the University of Oregon. Their primary teachers also include Bo Atlas (euphonium), and Dr. Benjamin Dean Taylor (music composition).