Dr. Kenyon Wilson

Composed for the quartet competition piece for the 2013 Southeast Regional Tuba/ Euphonium Conference, Antepenultimate Tango is the third of five works in the Tango series.

Dance No. 1 is a lively, multi-metric work for tuba/euphonium quartet. After a brief introduction where the second tuba establishes the bass line, the euphoniums enter with the first theme, which is ternary in design. The middle section features the euphoniums, then the tubas, followed by a rhythmic display by the euphoniums. The final section brings together all the themes before ending with a flourish. It is available on the Tennessee Tech Alumni Tuba Ensemble’s For the Kings of Brass recording.

Commissioned in 2009 by Dave Silden for the Charlotte Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, Dance No. 2 is written in the characteristic style of Dance No. 1. Like its predecessor, Dance No. 2 is a challenging piece in asymmetrical meter.

Commissioned in 2012 by the International Music Camp in North Dakota, this multi-metric work is written in memory of euphoniumist Harold Brasch. Dance No. 3 was premiered at the camp during the 2012 Octubafest.

Commissioned by the North Dakota Trombone Choir, this work for trombone octet is based on the dragon curve, a non-intersecting fractal curve created by folding a plane an infinate number of times.

Composed in 2010, Fearful Symmetry received its premiere performance by the Artist All-Star Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble at the 2010 International Tuba/Euphonium Conference in Tucson, Arizona.

Commissioned by alumni of the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble in celebration of the group's fifty-fifth year.

Written to celebrate the 45th year of the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble, Inertia has a brisk tempo that continues unchanging until acted upon by friction or gravity.

Commissioned by the Morehead State University Trombone Ensemble, Isle of Mann is scored for double quartet.

A Möbius strip is an infinite plane with only one edge and is represented in this work for trumpet ensemble by the use of symmetrical scales, conjunct harmonies, and looping melodies. Möbius was premiered by the UTC trumpet ensemble in November 2009.

Commissioned by the Morehead State University Trombone Ensemble, Penultimate Tango is your basic tango in 5/4 and 7/8 time.

Scored for oboe, violin, cello, and piano, the Preantepenultimate Tango is the fourth of Wilson's tangos.

Recursion is a self-referencing seven-part rondo for seven players premiered by seven university ensembles in seven states.

Shades of Gray is set in three contrasting movements (Fanfare, Round, and March) and is designed to be performed by younger performers.

Composed in 2009, this five movement work for trombone choir is based on the known dwarf planets: Eris, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Ceres. It received third prize (out of 106 entries) in Bone Therapy's Composition Contest for the 40th International Trombone Festival.

Composed in 2007 for William Mann, Trifecta is a lively, multimetric trombone feature piece for brass quintet. Trifecta is written in a rondo form with an introduction. The A section is composed in a conversational style between the trombone and the brass quartet and continues to develop with each restatement, while the B section is unchanged. The C section is in playful contrast to the remainder of the work and the D section combines the melody of the introduction, written in a duple meter, with a compound meter accompaniment. The work concludes with a tenacious, albeit brief, coda.

A triskaidekaphile is one who is obsessed by the number thirteen. This brief multi-metric work contains numerous musical references to the number thirteen.

Tuba Quartet No. 1 in C Minor received third prize in the 1994 Harvey Phillips Tuba/Euphonium Quartet Composition Contest. It is available on the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble’s Unleash the Beast! recording. The first movement is a four-voice fugue in the Baroque style. The second movement, Lament, begins with a short exchange between two solo tubas followed by a bittersweet melody present in minor, then transformed to major. The final movement, Dance, is a fast-paced rondo with frequent meter changes.

In 1995, the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble performed Wilson’s Tuba Quartet No. 1 at Carnegie Hall and recorded it for their “Unleash the Beast!” album. In 2013, the TTTE commissioned its sequel. Tuba Quartet No. 2 opens with a lively jig in 7/8 meter, followed by a lyrical elegy. Like the first quartet, the final movement is a lively, multi-metric dance.