Majestic Eyes - Sungji Hong [Andrew Trachsel & UNT Wind Orchestra]

Описание: Majestic Eyes (2025) by Sungji Hong (b. 1973)
World Premiere - CBDNA Preview Concert

Recorded live Thursday, February 19, 2026
Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts in Denton, Texas.
UNT Wind Orchestra
Andrew Trachsel, Conductor

Majestic Eyes is the final movement of the triptych Flamboyantly and is presented here on its own. The work draws inspiration from the sixth-century Christ Pantocrator icon from Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, a landmark of early Byzantine art. The intensity of the gaze in this portrait, direct and commanding, provided a conceptual spark for the musical character of the movement.

The music opens with a grand tutti chord that sets the ensemble in motion. This powerful sonority acts as an audible ignition and establishes the scale of the musical landscape. In the early measures, a recurring crescendo appears in the low instruments, introducing a rising dynamic drive that becomes central to the movement. In the second section, this swell moves to the foreground and is taken up by the full ensemble, becoming the primary force shaping the larger structure. Within each swell, the texture remains active, with shifting harmonic color, expanding registers, and evolving timbral combinations.

Majestic Eyes was commissioned by the University of North Texas Wind Orchestra and received its world premiere on February 19, 2026, at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Southwestern Conference Preview Concert, followed by a second performance on February 27, 2026, during the CBDNA conference. Both performances took place at the Winspear Performance Hall, Murchison Performing Arts Center, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, under the direction of Andrew Trachsel. The work was written for conductor Andrew Trachsel.