Into the Blue was commissioned by the Ohio Chapter of the International Trumpet Guild for the 2015 ITG Conference in Columbus, OH.  When Alan Seibert contacted me about doing a piece to open the opening concert he said he wanted something big, as they would have many trumpeters from around the state playing (there ended up being 16!).  Early on in the process of writing the piece I happened on a Ohio quarter and on the back of the quarter it says “Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers”.  Of course this got me curious.  I looked into it and quickly discovered that Ohio was the birth state of the Wright Brothers, John Glenn, and Neil Armstrong.  The quarter wasn’t kidding!  This idea of flight stuck with me throughout the writing of this piece. 

Duration: 5 minutes