Meet the Composer: Commissioned original works written for Young Sounds of Arizona have played a major role in the development of the young musicians who perform them.

The opportunity to interact with, work with, and be conducted by such compositional giants as Bill Holman, Bob Freedman, Bob Curnow. Tom Kubis, Fred Sturm, Chris Brubeck and others, in pieces written specially for them, is a golden one.

Results have always been achieved through adherence to the highest possible musical standards. These composers do not write "down" to the level of playing ability possessed by these 14-18-year-old band members in performance of these pieces which, in past years, have been commissioned through grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

It has been a special part of the Young Sounds final concert each season to allow the composers to address the audience and answer questions about how they developed these original works. Take a listen to some of the gifts these giants of jazz composition have brought to Young Sounds and our audiences................