Olympics Overture

The "Olympics Overture" was commissioned by the Civic Youth Orchestra of San Diego, Sally B. Thornton, President, and premiered by the Civic Youth Orchestra under the direction of Arne Christiansen, Jun 10, 1984. This was the first piece the Civic Youth Orchestra had ever commissioned, and it was supported by a grant from the Colonel Frank C. Wood Memorial Fund of the San Diego Community Foundation. 1984 was the year the Olympics came to Los Angeles, and this piece is a buoyant, exuberant overture that attempts to capture something of the Olympic spirit, especially in the trumpet cadenza near the end where the soloist strives for an ever higher and higher note, which he finally achieves. The piece is written in changing compound meters throughout ? 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 15/8 ? and marked ?Soaring? as a general interpretive instruction at the beginning.