UIW Premieres New Work by Taylor

On April 23rd, the University of the Incarnate Word Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Brett Richardson, performed the World Premiere of Benjamin Taylor's "The Hope Within."

From the composer's program notes:

The Hope Within was commissioned by the University of the Incarnate Word wind ensemble, Brett A. Richardson, Conductor, in memory of the conductor's mother, Becky Bailey Richardson (1952-2016) who lost her life after a tragic battle with depression. The composer Benjamin Taylor writes, "While sitting at the piano one day sketching material for this piece, I found myself in tears as I reflected upon the difficulties and hardships in my own life and the lives of family members and friends close to me. Addiction, abuse, the unexpected death of a young child, financial stress, depression, infidelity – all of us are going through hard things, real things, things that seem impossibly hard to get through on our own. I offer this composition as my testimony that the Master Healer can and will "bind up the brokenhearted" (Isaiah 61:1). My hope rests on His power, grace, and love. I pray that each of us can find peace and solace, even in hard times, as "partaker[s] of his hope" (1 Corinthians 9:10)."

You are encouraged to listen to this remarkable new work. You can find a video of the premiere on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/benjamintaylormusic/videos/10158523018365654/

We are fortunate to have such a masterful young composer as part of the N-BEAM consortium. We look forward to his work for the consortium in 2018. If you would like to know more about the N-BEAM consortium, check us out on Facebook and Twitter @nbeamconsortium, or our website at https://mobleyj.wixsite.com/nbeam.