When the Spirit Soars

Music is perhaps unique among the performing arts in its ability to express and convey the subtlest nuances of human emotion This ability is exploited in When the Spirit Soars which attempts to capture in music the feeling of extreme happiness sometimes almost too much to bear that we all experience at one time or another. Often this happiness can be tinged with sadness (we can cry with joy after all) and it is this conflict of emotions which this piece describes. There are moments of doubt as the piece progresses but it ends in undiluted joy.

Let the emotion pour off your stage with this powerful new composition by Brian Balmages. Combining the undeniable spirit of youth along with the emotional passing of a spirit this work will carry your audience through an array of emotions. Opening with exciting woodwind flourishes and contrasting fanfares the piece eventually moves into a sensitive passage featuring beautiful chamber writing. Special effects are employed (including tuned wine glasses and singing) in an ethereal presentation of the melody using piano bells and vibraphone. As the piece builds one final time the beautiful sweeping lines of the lyrical section return under soaring woodwind ostinatos. This worktruly soars! (6:12)