by Bruce Stark
full orchestra
6 minutes
study score (8 1/2x11), large score (11x17), rental parts
2fl picc, 2ob eh, 2cl bcl, 2bsn cbsn/4hrn, 3tpt, 2tbn btbn tba/4perc timp/str
When I commissioned Bruce Stark to write a piece celebrating the turn of the millennium, I was certain of only one thing: that his piece would be full of excitement! What I could not have foreseen was the daring structure of the piece, the extraordinary finesse of his orchestration, and the muscular main theme…
— David Charles Abell, conductor
Overture To New Beginnings has been performed by the English Northern Philharmonia (David Charles Abell), the Rapides Symphony (Joshua Zona), three times by the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra (Abell), and the Beaverton Symphony Orchestra (Travis Hatton)
David Charles Abell and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra perform Overture to New Beginnings, in 2002 (pre-revision version—current edition is a minute shorter)
PROGRAM NOTES
Overture To New Beginnings was commissioned by David Charles Abell for its premiere under his baton by the English Northern Philharmonia at their New Years concert in 2000. I completed the current edition in 2019, with several cuts and revisions in response to performances. Though the work was written for the advent of a new millennium, the theme is of course perennial. The music is intended to convey many feelings attendant with new beginnings: anticipation, excitement, uncertainty (the fast, scurrying theme in strings at the opening), a look backwards (the more dissonant passages, depicting a triumph over obstacles), and finally a robust, optimistic resolve to move forward, inspired by a new start. The piece celebrates the empowerment of new beginnings.
For all of us, may each day bring with it the renewed promise of life's unfolding in positive ways.
— Bruce Stark