“Sitting on the opening sequence up until the piano solo, I was never sure where I wanted this piece to go exactly. I was very content with how the opening sounded, but I was never satisfied with anything I wrote beyond that. I was stuck on what to do, going away for a month, and coming back to it, and scrapping everything I worked on, then went away again. I kept repeating this cycle until February, I was hit with an idea; I could dedicate this piece to the love of my life. I quickly went back and struck with new-found inspiration; I quickly wrote the solo trumpet melody and planned out my idea for the piece.

         The Sun Rises tells the tale of, well, the sun rising. I wrote the piece with the idea of slowly building energy throughout the piece, until the piece can't build any longer, and it explodes in the full force of the band. The piece captures just sitting on a deck, looking over the lake, and slowly seeing the sun rise; as it slowly brightens and warms everything around it. And by the time it fully rises, the surrounding nature just explodes with color and life.”