American composer James Stephenson (b. 1969) began his career, fresh out of the New England Conservatory, as a trumpeter for the Naples (Florida) Philharmonic. He stayed in that post for 17 years, pivoting to full-time composing in 2007. Since then, demand for his works has continued to grow. He is known in some corners as the “Concerto King” (a term coined by John Yeh), having written concertos or sonatas for almost every symphonic instrument, largely at the behest of major symphony orchestra principals. He writes non-concerto symphonic pieces as well, including a large catalog of wind band works. His Symphony no. 2: Voices won both the ABA/Ostwald (2018) and William Revelli (2017) composition prizes. Read more about him at his website, Cedille Records (plus this interview), and the Wind Repertory Project.
Stephenson originally wrote there are no words as a chamber piece in response to the Charleston shooting on June 17, 2015, in which a white supremacist murdered nine Black worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Stephenson constructed the piece by relying heavily on the number nine, representing each of the victims of the tragedy. He names them in the score – “Dedicated to Clementa, Sharonda, Myra, Tywanza, Ethel, Cynthia, Daniel, DePayne, and Susie” – and constructs a short, tonal song from their names that provides important melodic material for the piece. He also uses a nine-note sequence throughout the piece, and calls for up to nine sets of chimes to be placed around the performance hall to great climactic effect. He goes into much greater detail on his inspiration and composition procedures both at his website and in the score.
Hear it live in the concert band version, commissioned by a consortium led by Scott Weiss and the Palmetto Concert Band. This performance features Weiss conducting the Honor Band of America in 2018:
He includes a quote from “Amazing Grace“: