Travis Cross (b. 1977) is a Korean-American composer, conductor, and educator. He is currently the director of bands at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He is also a traveling clinician who has worked with students in nearly 40 US states and at least ten countries on four continents. He has nearly 20 compositions for band, all of which are spotlighted through his composer website at Theodore Music. He studied music at St. Olaf College and Northwestern University, where his principal teachers were Timothy Mahr and Mallory Thompson. He is featured on the web at UCLA, the Wind Repertory Project, The Council of Korean Americans (of which he is a member), and Music For All.
And the grass sings in the meadow grew out of a commission that Cross received in 2011, which he describes in his program notes:
And the grass sings in the meadows was commissioned by the City of Fairfax (Va.) Band, Robert Pouliot, music director and conductor. They gave the premiere performance at Fairfax High School in Fairfax, Va., on Saturday, April 16, 2011.
The title of the work comes from the final stanza of the Spring Carol by Scottish poet Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894):
So when the earth is alive with gods,
And the lusty ploughman breaks the sod,
And the grass sings in the meadows,
And the flowers smile in the shadows,
Sits my heart at ease,
Hearing the song of the leas,
Singing the songs of the meadows.
Here it is in performance with the composer conducting:
See more about the piece at Theodore Music and the Wind Repertory Project. And for a little more on the poem that inspired it, go to All Poetry.