American composer Nicole Piunno (b. 1985) completed composition studies at Central Michigan University and Michigan State University, where her principal teachers included David Gillingham, Ricardo Lorenz, and Charles Ruggiero. Her music has been performed by top ensembles around the United States and beyond. Aside from her many wind band works, her output so far is weighted towards music for brass ensembles of various sizes. This may be related to her history as a trumpet player. Although she sustained an injury that nearly ended her playing career, she has since recovered and shares that experience of rehabilitation with others.
Dance the Joy Alive was the winner of the 2018 Female Band Composition Competition run by Shannon Shaker and sponsored by the Beta Omicron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi at Arizona State University (full disclosure: I am an honorary member of this chapter). Piunno says “Joy does not always come easily and I think we sometimes need to act before we feel. In this piece I am using dance as a metaphor, as to say we can act our way to feeling joyful. In other words, we can dance the joy alive.” In doing so, she plays with meter and time, often giving the impression of two meters at once. Here it is in its premiere performance by the Arizona State University Concert Band led by Shannon Shaker:
Check out Piunno’s website, the site of her publisher, Murphy Music, and a preview of the score.