SYMPHONIE N°2 “MIGRATION” for Wind Ensemble by ADAM SCHOENBERG (USA, 1980)
- WASBE Marcom
- Jun 29
- 4 min read
[#310] June 30, 2025 2017 | Wind Ensemble | Grade 6 | 25’ – 30’ | Symphony
Premiered by Austin Wind Ensemble conducted by Jerry Junkin on Mar 05, 2017 in Austin, Texas, United States
Symphonie N°2 “Migration” by American composer and educator Adam Schoenberg is our Composition of the Week.
Symphonie N°2 commissioned by the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music and Texas Performing Arts for The University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble and premiered on March 5, 2017. Migration is dedicated to Jerry Junkin.
“In the weeks following the November 8th [2016] election, I have been thinking a lot about immigration. It’s a controversial and divisive issue. It is also one of the foundations of our great country. I myself am fourth-generation American. My ancestors immigrated from Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania. I grew up in a town of 750 people in rural Massachusetts. It was a pretty typical American childhood. Carefree and idyllic. I never really thought about how my family had gotten here, or what it had taken to make that journey.
The narrative behind Migration is inspired by my wife, and her family’s journey to America. As she likes to say, “No one leaves where they’re from unless they believe that something better awaits them.” While writing this piece she and I talked at length about the emotional journey that many immigrants experience. If you don’t push yourself to dream about what awaits you, then how do you have the courage to leave behind all that you know? If you don’t envision a new home where all of your hopes and dreams can be achieved, then how do you survive in a completely unfamiliar place?
Janine’s parents did what many immigrants dream of doing: they became citizens, worked hard, and eventually bought a home. But their central focus was always making sure that their children would succeed. They fought to give them opportunities that would not have been possible elsewhere. They are the sacrificial generation. Their children are the embodiment of the American Dream.
Each year individuals from all over the world come to the United States seeking more opportunities. Whether they are escaping religious persecution, government instability, or social and political inequality, they are all searching for something better. This is, after all, the land where anything is possible, a place where all of your dreams can come true, no matter where you come from.
Migration is in five movements:
I. March is the catalyst for change. Whether personal or political, it represents the conflict that is taking place within the country of origin.
II. Dreaming is the vision of what awaits. It is the inspiration that allows one to take the leap and begin the journey.
III. Escape represents the uprooting. Whether crossing illegally, going through Ellis Island, etc., it embodies the anxiety, hope, and fear of leaving everything behind.
IV. Crossing captures the feelings associated with leaving your homeland and entering a completely unfamiliar place.
V. Beginning represents the culmination of the journey. It is the start of a new life where anything is possible.
Program Notes by Adam Schoenberg
The Symphonie has duration of 28 minutes. It is scored for a large Wind Ensemble setting, with the addition of Electric Bass, Piano, Harp, Electronics as well as Timpani and 6 percussion parts. The music is on rental at Schoenberg Music.
Dr. Adam Schoenberg earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School as a student of John Corigliano and Robert Beaser. He also received his Master of Music degree from Juilliard and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Schoenberg was a 2009 and 2010 MacDowell Fellow and won the first prize for best brass quintet at the 2008 International Brass Chamber Music Festival. Other accolades include ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Juilliard’s Palmer-Dixon Prize for Most Outstanding Composition, and a Meet the Composer award. Recently [2017] named one of the Top 10 most performed living classical composers by orchestras in the United States, Adam Schoenberg’s music is “invigorating” (Los Angeles Times) and full of “mystery and sensuality” (The New York Times).
Schoenberg has received commissions from several major American orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Up! and La Luna Azul), the Kansas City Symphony (American Symphony and Picture Studies), and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Aspen Music Festival and School (Bounce). Other recent commissions include works for the New West Symphony, Soprano Alyson Cambridge, and the Washington Performing Arts.
Beginning in the 2015-16 season, Schoenberg serves as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s composer-in-residence. Other upcoming projects include collaborations with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Iris Orchestra, Charleston, Amarillo, and Phoenix symphonies, and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra.
A committed educator, Schoenberg is on the composition faculty at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. He has given lectures and master classes for the Young Presidents’ Organization, Atlanta Symphony, The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Blair School of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, among others. An accomplished and versatile film composer, Schoenberg has scored two feature-length films and several shorts. Highlights include, Graceland, co-written with his father, Steven Schoenberg, which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and received its nationwide theatrical release in the spring of 2013.
Other works for winds include:
• Prepare for Takeoff (2008)
• American Symphony (transc. Patterson) 2011
• Losing Earth (2019)
• Rise (2019)
• Cool Cat (2023)
More on Adam Schoenberg
