Julie Giroux (b. 1961) is a prolific composer in many media who has made her mark especially in the wind band realm. A Massachusetts native who grew up in Arizona and Louisiana, Giroux spent the early part of her career arranging and orchestrating music for film and television, as well as for several pop stars in Los Angeles. Since about 1997, she has focused her creative energies on original compositions. She has found broad interest in her work around the world, and she has been commissioned to write new music by ensembles of all levels. She is also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ causes. Her website is a hub for her creative activities. She has profiles in many places, notably Wikipedia, the Wind Repertory Project, the American Band College, Louisiana State University (her alma mater), and the Lone Star Wind Orchestra. She also may have the best Facebook page in the universe.
Giroux wrote Our Cast Aways in 2018 in honor of animals in shelters. It was “Commissioned by the Bednarcik, Plank, Murphy, Thompson and Traughber Junior High School Bands of School District #308, Oswego, Il, Rachel Maxwell, coordinator.” Giroux writes a program note nearly as moving as her music:
6.5 million companion animals enter animal shelters every year and 2.4 million of these adoptable animals are put down. These numbers do not include the thousands who suffer in silence. Thanks to thousands of caring people, these numbers are steadily decreasing, but we still have a long way to go. This work is dedicated to all those who work hard in the fight to end puppy mills, to rescue suffering pets and to provide care and medical attention to all those rescued. It is dedicated to those companions who get rescued and for those whose rescue never comes.
We are all shepherds. Every living creature is in our care. Hopefully mankind will someday uphold his responsibility and become caretaker of all living things on earth. Maybe someday all humans will be humane and mankind will be kind.
The pictures of the rescued animals belong to people who are my friends on Facebook. Apparently, I keep great company when it comes to people who rescue and adopt animals who have been cast away. My own rescues are also in the photos. The published score will feature these beautiful rescues in full color.
The pictures she mentions are indeed included in the score, and many of them are reproduced in miniature on her website. Here is just one tableau of adorable rescue animals:
And here it is in performance:
See more about the piece at the Wind Repertory Project and Musica Propria. There are plenty of options for animal rescue if that is what drew you here. Locally to me at least, the Susquehanna SPCA (affiliated with SPCA International) and Super Heroes Humane Society both run rescue operations.