Summer Suite

for Trumpet

with accompaniment for String Quartet or Piano or Organ or Saxophone Quartet
or String Orchestra or Chamber Orchestra or Wind Ensemble with optional percussion

Winner of the 2013 Cheryl A. Spector Prize
Winner of Third Prize in the Third Millennium Ensemble's 2013 Composers Competition
Awarded Honorable Mention in the 2010 Pathways Contest by Imagine Music Publishing

Available on James Ackley's CD "New American Works for Trumpet"
"This is largely lyric music, both lovely and poetic, ... The open and soaring melodies remind this reviewer of Copland and Hovhaness."         — John Falskow, ITG Journal, March 2013
Beautiful and pensive – it occupies a unique expressive and emotional space in the trumpet repertoire. The great modern works are inaccessible to anyone with regular skills on the instrument. Summer Suite offers us intriguing lines to play through with rare opportunities to be intimate and thoughtful. Thank you, Greg!!
      – Matt Burke (Manchester, U.K., trumpeter)

Performance History · Download PDF Orchestra Score · Sheet Music · Buy the CD

Download Free Piano Accompaniment Tracks

Summer Suite is evocative of the moods and imagery of childhood fun. Popsicle Rocket Sunrise suggests the energy and freedom of being out and about on the street when the popsicle man comes by. Still Life with Melon & Sand evokes the quiet stillness of a hot beach, interrupted by a chase scene of frantic kids running after one another on the sand. Red Cherry Lark does not refer to a bird; "lark" is meant in the sense of a fun adventure, and red cherry is simply a bright summery color.

Summer Suite was composed for six trumpeters: Brian Chin, Nate Mayfield, Bryan Appleby-Wineberg, Adrian Kelly, Marco Esperti and Matt Burke. The accompaniment for Summer Suite is available in arrangements for piano, string quartet (video at right top), saxophone quartet (video at right below), string orchestra, chamber orchestra, concert band (videos below) or organ.

The arrangement for string quartet accompaniment was premiered May 1, 2009, by Brian Chin at the Chapel Performance Space, Seattle. Nate Mayfield premiered the arrangement with piano accompaniment at the American Festival for the Arts in Houston, Texas, and Bryan Appleby-Wineberg premiered one movement of the arrangement with string orchestra accompaniment at Pfleeger Concert Hall in Glassboro, New Jersey. The arrangement for organ was premiered by Bill Stoneham and Timothy Noon at St Peter's Cathedral, Hamilton, New Zealand.

James Ackley and the Palmetto Camerata recorded an arrangement of Summer Suite for trumpet with both piano and string quartet for their 2012 CD, New American Works for Trumpet, released on the Beauport Classical label.

The above recordings feature:

  • James Ackley with The Palmetto Camerata (piano and string quartet)
  • Matt Burke with piano accompaniment (generated by Sibelius)
  • Matt Swihart with string quartet (Teo Benson & Miodrag Veselinovic, violins, Amber Archibald, viola, and Dylan Rieck, cello)
  • Gianluigi Petrarulo with the Fiatinsieme Sax Quartet
  • Mark Alan Wade with the Tutti New Music Festival chamber orchestra, Andrew Strietelmeier conducting

Purchase Sheet Music

With piano and/or string quartet: Art of Sound Music

With string orchestra: Imagine Music Publishing

With chamber orchestra: J.W.Pepper or SheetMusicPlus

With organ: J.W.Pepper or SheetMusicPlus

With wind ensemble (concert band): J.W.Pepper or Sheet Music Plus

For sax quartet and other arrangements, email Burke & Bagley

Performance History - Trumpet with string quartet

World premiere May 1, 2009, by trumpeter Brian Chin accompanied by a string quartet comprised of Steve Creswell, Kim Zabelle, Eva Sheie, and Brad Hawkins at the Seattle Composers' Salon, Chapel Performance Space, Seattle.

March 5, 2010, Still Life with Melon & Sand and Red Cherry Lark performed by Matt Swihart accompanied by a string quartet comprised of Teo Benson and Miodrag Veselinovic, violins, Amber Archibald, viola, and Dylan Reick, cello, at the Society of Composers Region 8 Conference at Puget Sound University in Tacoma, Washington.

April 23, 2012, Oregon premiere of Red Cherry Lark by Ziv Feinberg and the Waller String Quartet at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon.

October 26, 2012, Brian Chin accompanied by a string quartet comprised of Kim Zabelle and Amy Gudorf, violins, Heather Bentley, viola, and Nathan Whittaker, cello, at the Tasting Room, Seattle.

February 25 & 26, 2014, Southern hemisphere premiere by Bill Stoneham and the FraNZ String Quartet at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival, Hamilton, New Zealand.

April 26, 2015, Chris Gekker & the Third Millennium Ensemble at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Bethesda, Maryland.

Performance History - Trumpet with piano

World premiere July 6, 2009, by trumpeter Nathaniel Mayfield and pianist Julie Loeb Sachs at the American Festival for the Arts, Houston, Texas.

October 13, 2009, by trumpeter Nathaniel Mayfield and pianist Andrea Imhoff at St. Thomas Church, Texas A&M University.

July 28, 2009, Australian premiere of Popsicle Rocket Sunrise on July 28, 2009, by trumpeter Adrian Kelly and pianist Stephanie Nicholls at Ellington Jazz Club, Perth, Australia.

September 27, 2009, New York premiere by Jean Christophe Dobrzelewski and pianist Carl Cranmer, Composers Voice Concert Series, Jan Hus Presbyterian Church, New York City..

October 5, 2010, North Carolina premiere by Timothy M. Altman and pianist Elizabeth Maisonpierre at Moore Hall Auditorium, University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

October 11, 2010, South Carolina premiere by James Ackley and pianist Joseph Rackers, School of Music Recital Hall, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

April 24, 2011, Colorado premiere of Popsicle Rocket Sunrise and Red Cherry Lark by trumpeter Greg Simon with pianist Allison Olsson at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Denver, Colorado

May 1, 2012, Asian premiere of Red Cherry Lark by Adrian Kelly at Parsons Music in Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

April 15, 2014, Virginia premiere of Popsicle Rocket Sunrise and Still Life with Melon & Sand by Micah Hodges accompanied by Amy Robertson on piano at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

May 5, 2014, Micah Hodges performed Popsicle Rocket Sunrise and Still Life with Melon & Sand accompanied by Amy Robertson on piano at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

June 7, 2016, Irish premiere by Fábio Neves and pianist Dearbhla Brosnan at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Ireland.

July 4, 2016, Portuguese premiere by Miguel Ángel del Val Melfi, trumpet, and Dimitri Vinokurov, piano, at the Universidade de Évora, Portugal.

November 9, 2016, Latin American premiere by James Ackley at the Guatebrass Festival at the Iglesia Inmaculada Corazón de María, Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Performance History - Trumpet with piano & string quartet

December 9, 2013, by trumpeter Ward Yager accompanied by Jessica McKee, piano, and a string quartet comprised of Sonya Chung and Shelley Mathews, violins, Heidi Remick, viola, and Diana Flesner, cello, at Gildenhorn Recital Hall, College Park, Maryland.

Performance History - Trumpet with organ

December 15, 2013, preview of the arrangement for trumpet & organ of Popsicle Rocket Sunrise by Bill Stoneham and Rachael Griffiths-Hughes at St Peter's Cathedral, Hamilton, New Zealand.

World premiere January 30, 2014, by Bill Stoneham and Timothy Noon at St Peter's Cathedral, Hamilton, New Zealand.

January 31, 2014, by Bill Stoneham and Timothy Noon at St Luke's Church, Rotorua, New Zealand.

February 1, 2014, by Bill Stoneham and Timothy Noon at Wesley Methodist Church, Tauranga, New Zealand.

February 2, 2014, by Bill Stoneham and Timothy Noon at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, New Zealand.

Performance History - Trumpet with chamber orchestra

World premiere April 5, 2011, by Alex Noppe and the University of Louisiana - Monroe Chamber Orchestra, Dr. Jason Rinehart, conducting, at Monroe,Louisiana.

February 23, 2013, world premiere of the revised arrangement for trumpet & chamber orchestra performed by Mark Alan Wade and the Denison University Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Strietelmeier, at Swasey Chapel, Granville, Ohio, as the final piece on the final program for the 2013 Tutti New Music Festival.

July 23,2016, trumpeter George Steward and the Octava Chamber Orchestra at Edmonds United Methodist Church, Edmonds, Washington.

Performance History - Trumpet with string orchestra

World premiere of "Popsicle Rocket Sunrise" November 30, 2010, by Bryan Appleby-Wineberg and Rowan University String Ensemble, George Atanasiu conducting, at Pfleeger Concert Hall, Glassboro, NJ.

December 8, 2010, "Popsicle Rocket Sunrise" by Bryan Appleby-Wineberg and Rowan University String Ensemble, George Atanasiu conducting, at The Bourse Building, Philadelphia, PA.

Performance History - Trumpet with wind ensemble (concert band)

January 9, 2014, World premiere of the arrangement for trumpet and wind ensemble by trumpeter Omar Escobar Gómez accompanied by Banda Sinfónica del Conservatorio Superior de Música "Juaquín Rodrigo" directed by Ramón Ramirez Beneyto in Valencia, Spain.

May 11, 2015, Sebastial Gil and the Croatian Army Symphonic Wind Orchestra of Zagreb at the Velika Gorica Brass Festival in Croatia.

June 9, 2018, Omar Escobar Gómez and the Banda Sinfónica del Centro Instructivo Musical de Mislata under Francisco Valero Terribas at the Auditorio del CIM de Mislata, Valencia, Spain.

December 3, 2109, Sebastián Gil Armas and La Banda la Tafallesa at the Tubala Brass Week Festival in Navarre, Spain.

Performance History - Trumpet with saxophone quartet

World premiere November 4, 2019, by trumpeter Matthew A. Hernandez accompanied by saxophone quartet of Gavin Kohlenberg, Diana Tschoerner, Rafael Powell & Noah Bruening at Hemmle Recital Hall, Texas Tech University School of Music, Lubbock, Texas.

Performance History - Soprano Saxophone with piano

World premiere October 14, 2012, by Michael Hernandez and Elizabeth Ames at Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church, Clearwater, Florida.

October 15, 2012, Michael Hernandez and Elizabeth Ames at Florida State University, Talahassee, Florida

October 17, 2012, Michael Hernandez and Elizabeth Ames at Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia

Performance History - Euphonium with chamber orchestra

February 22, 2015, Red Cherry Lark performed by Ferris State University West Central Chamber Orchestra under Dr. Richard Scott Cohen with euphonium soloist Edward K. Mallett & marimba soloist Noah Mallett at G. Mennen Williams Auditorium, Big Rapids, Michigan.

Performance History - Clarinet with string quartet

May 10, 2018, Kathryn Vetter, clarinet, and the Crouse String Quartet, at Gilliam Music Center, Norman, Oklahoma.