North Texas Wind Symphony & Eugene Migliaro Corporon - Composer's Collection: John Mackey (2017)

The North Texas Wind Symphony is drawn from the ranks of student musicians (there are more than 400 in the wind program alone) at the University of North Texas, one of the centers of musical performance in the sprawling Texas state university system. Under the directorship of pedagogue and music editor Eugene Corporon it has grown beyond the status of student ensemble to become a force in the contemporary music field, commissioning new works from even top composers. The North Texas Wind Symphony, along with Corporon's Cincinnati Wind Symphony, is represented on the Klavier Wind Recording project series, which began in 1989 and now encompasses more than 34 CD releases; many of them showcase not only winds but also the ensemble's large battery of virtuoso percussionists. Graphic design standards (note the Bird Songs cover) are a factor extending the group's reach far beyond that of other university wind ensembles. Another series, the GIA Composers' Collection, is an overview of the wind band repertory, and the group's range extends from Sousa to contemporary works with extended instrumental techniques. Singapore's Inkpot has proclaimed the North Texas Wind Symphony "among the very best of contemporary wind bands," and reviewer Adrian Tan termed the group's Wildflowers album "probably one favourite album of wind band music of all time." Its pair of albums released in 2011, Genesis and Revelations, includes works by Alfred Reed, Michael Colgrass, Donald Grantham, Jennifer Higdon, and John Mackey.