TRANSIT BRASS COLLECTION
This exciting work for brass octet is a great concert opener or closer. Instrumentation is 3 trumpets (parts in both Bb and C are provided), horn, 3 trombones and tuba. Duration: 5:00, Difficulty: V. 
 
Notes from the composer:
Inspiration for this work comes from two sources: my interest in outer space and the Star Wars movie series. In January 2006 I read a newspaper article that reported NASA was sending a spacecraft on a nine-year mission to Pluto. In July 2015 I was stunned to hear that the spacecraft was approaching Pluto. The fact that it had travelled nine years without any malfunctions or damages along the way was almost unbelievable.
 
To the Stars is a tone poem for brass octet that focuses on what I consider the main elements of every Stars Wars movie and what I imagine NASA engineers may have felt when they started such a daunting mission to Pluto. The work is divided into six brief scenes (the titles are not to be taken too seriously):
 
1. The New Frontier
2. The Battle Scene
3. Did it work? Did we win?
4. Galaxy Gigue
5. The Battle Returns
6. Ah! The End is in Sight
-Robert Sears