The Oregon Band Directors Association is committed to advancing instrumental education, and contributing the field of wind band literature. We plan to continue with future commission projects, covering multiple ability levels, as well as offer the ability to join consortiums such that even more schools have the opportunity to participate in future endeavors.
HS COMMISSION PROJECT
The OBDA High School Commission Project for 2028 will be composed by James Stephenson. The difficulty will be around a grade Grade 4 - 4.5. Duration will be roughly 5 minutes. The Consortium Participation Fee is $375 per school/ organization. Participating directors name and school will be listed on the score. Participating directors will receive a set of parts and a score. Payments will be accepted via online by following this link: https://www.oregonbda.org/commission-project.html. For checks, please contact the OBDA Treasurer.
By completing the form below, you are committing your school to a $375 buy-in for our 2028 commission project.
By completing the form below, you are committing your school to a $375 buy-in for our 2028 commission project.
Questions regarding the HS Commission Project please email the HS commission chair.
James Stephenson Bio:
Ever since music became his passion at the age of 10, Jim Stephenson has been fortunate to enjoy a multifaceted life in the music world, working as a performer, composer, conductor, and educator. When just fresh out of college, he joined the Naples (FL) Philharmonic as its youngest member to date and would work there as professional trumpeter for 17 seasons. It was during his time there that he discovered another musical outlet: composition.
As a composer, Jim Stephenson creates music that resonates with audiences and musicians alike. Musical America described his work as “astonishingly inventive” and the Boston Herald raved that his music “deserves to be heard again and again.” Most recently, the Chicago Tribune described a recent premiere as "an exquisite original score by composer James Stephenson." Since becoming a full-time composer in 2007, he has enjoyed premieres in widely varied areas of the musical landscape, including The Chicago Symphony (Muti), San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Pops, and "The President's Own" US Marine Band. The latter premiered his "Fanfare for Democracy" at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Other orchestras premiering Stephenson's works include the Minnesota Orchestra on two occasions, the St. Louis, Houston, and Baltimore Symphonies, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and many others. The one-act comedic opera, Cåraboo - "the true story of a false princess" - premiered in June, 2023, marking his first foray into the world of opera. Recent projects include his fifth symphony, a piano concerto, several overtures, and two forthcoming concertos.
His award-winning catalog currently contains five symphonies (the 2nd has been performed over 50 times), concertos and sonatas written for nearly every instrument (many commissioned by world renowned artists), and numerous chamber works for a wide variety of instrumental combinations. A storyteller in sound, Stephenson has recently used that passion towards theatrical ends, fueling his growing catalog of opera and ballet scores. His educational work, "Once Upon a Symphony" also exemplifies this love and has received nearly 400 performances world-wide. "Orchestral Odyssey", his next work in this vein, will be composed during the 2025-26 season. It is no surprise that Stephenson has written a vast number of works, nearly 80 to date, for his main instrument, the trumpet, making this CD all the more special, as it represents a collection of some of his most significant works, in collaboration with one of his dearest and most respected of friends.
Stephenson resides in Lake Forest, IL with his wife Sally and is the proud father of their four beautiful children. He spends his non-composing time traveling, doing athletic activity of almost any kind, sometimes mowing the lawn, sometimes shoveling snow, and sampling good wine with good friends whenever possible. More about Jim can be found at ComposerJim.com.
Ever since music became his passion at the age of 10, Jim Stephenson has been fortunate to enjoy a multifaceted life in the music world, working as a performer, composer, conductor, and educator. When just fresh out of college, he joined the Naples (FL) Philharmonic as its youngest member to date and would work there as professional trumpeter for 17 seasons. It was during his time there that he discovered another musical outlet: composition.
As a composer, Jim Stephenson creates music that resonates with audiences and musicians alike. Musical America described his work as “astonishingly inventive” and the Boston Herald raved that his music “deserves to be heard again and again.” Most recently, the Chicago Tribune described a recent premiere as "an exquisite original score by composer James Stephenson." Since becoming a full-time composer in 2007, he has enjoyed premieres in widely varied areas of the musical landscape, including The Chicago Symphony (Muti), San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Pops, and "The President's Own" US Marine Band. The latter premiered his "Fanfare for Democracy" at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Other orchestras premiering Stephenson's works include the Minnesota Orchestra on two occasions, the St. Louis, Houston, and Baltimore Symphonies, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and many others. The one-act comedic opera, Cåraboo - "the true story of a false princess" - premiered in June, 2023, marking his first foray into the world of opera. Recent projects include his fifth symphony, a piano concerto, several overtures, and two forthcoming concertos.
His award-winning catalog currently contains five symphonies (the 2nd has been performed over 50 times), concertos and sonatas written for nearly every instrument (many commissioned by world renowned artists), and numerous chamber works for a wide variety of instrumental combinations. A storyteller in sound, Stephenson has recently used that passion towards theatrical ends, fueling his growing catalog of opera and ballet scores. His educational work, "Once Upon a Symphony" also exemplifies this love and has received nearly 400 performances world-wide. "Orchestral Odyssey", his next work in this vein, will be composed during the 2025-26 season. It is no surprise that Stephenson has written a vast number of works, nearly 80 to date, for his main instrument, the trumpet, making this CD all the more special, as it represents a collection of some of his most significant works, in collaboration with one of his dearest and most respected of friends.
Stephenson resides in Lake Forest, IL with his wife Sally and is the proud father of their four beautiful children. He spends his non-composing time traveling, doing athletic activity of almost any kind, sometimes mowing the lawn, sometimes shoveling snow, and sampling good wine with good friends whenever possible. More about Jim can be found at ComposerJim.com.
PAYMENT OPTIONS
Payments will be accepted via online (link below). For checks, please contact the OBDA Treasurer (Keija Lee).
MS COMMISSION PROJECT
We will post information about our middle school commission when available.
ABOUT CAROL BRITTAN CHAMBERS
Carol Brittin Chambers, composer and arranger, is currently the composer and owner of Aspenwood Music and a highly sought-after conductor and clinician. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, where she is also on the music faculty at Texas Lutheran University, teaching composition and serving as Composer in Residence.
Chambers is commissioned each year to compose and arrange works for concert band, marching band, orchestra, and chamber ensembles. Her concert works have been selected to the J.W. Pepper Editor’s Choice List and the Bandworld Top 100 and have been performed at state educator conferences across the country, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and other international events. She was named the winner of the 2019 WBDI (Women Band Directors International) Composition Competition and just recently served as the 2025 TBA Texas Bandmasters Association Featured Composer. She has arranged and orchestrated marching shows for multitudes of high school bands nationwide, as well as The Crossmen Drum Corps. Chambers travels coast-to-coast conducting music ensembles of all ability levels and ages, and she has now joined the Conn Selmer Educational Team as an Educational Clinician.
Chambers has arranged and orchestrated show music for numerous high school marching bands across the country, as well as The Crossmen DrumCorps. High schools include CT Johnson HS, San Antonio, TX (2020 6A State Champion, 2019, 2016, 2011 BOA Grand Nationals Finalist, 2017 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional, Austin, & Midland Champion, 2014 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional & Houston Champion, multi-year State Finalist), Keller HS, TX (2023, 2015 BOA Grand Nationals Finalist, 2017 & multi-year BOA Regional and State Finalist), Broken Arrow Senior High School, OK (2006 BOA Grand Nationals Finals Champion), and Ronald Reagan High School, San Antonio, TX (2005 Bands of America Grand Nationals Semi-Finals Champion), to name a few. In addition to her own shows, she also orchestrates the shows of Aaron Guidry, at www.yataforluda.com.
At Texas Lutheran University, Chambers has taught a variety of music education courses, including Band and Brass Methods, Orchestration, Music Technology, Ear Training and Sight Singing, and Trumpet lessons, to name a few. Before teaching at TLU, Chambers taught middle school and high school band for many years in the North East Independent School District, San Antonio, TX. She also taught private lessons in NEISD.
Chambers received a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music Education from Texas Tech University. She studied under Vincent Cichowicz, Will Strieder, John Paynter, Arnold Jacobs, James Sudduth, and Pat Anthony. She and her husband Mark have three children: Catherine, Joshua, and Julia.
Chambers is commissioned each year to compose and arrange works for concert band, marching band, orchestra, and chamber ensembles. Her concert works have been selected to the J.W. Pepper Editor’s Choice List and the Bandworld Top 100 and have been performed at state educator conferences across the country, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and other international events. She was named the winner of the 2019 WBDI (Women Band Directors International) Composition Competition and just recently served as the 2025 TBA Texas Bandmasters Association Featured Composer. She has arranged and orchestrated marching shows for multitudes of high school bands nationwide, as well as The Crossmen Drum Corps. Chambers travels coast-to-coast conducting music ensembles of all ability levels and ages, and she has now joined the Conn Selmer Educational Team as an Educational Clinician.
Chambers has arranged and orchestrated show music for numerous high school marching bands across the country, as well as The Crossmen DrumCorps. High schools include CT Johnson HS, San Antonio, TX (2020 6A State Champion, 2019, 2016, 2011 BOA Grand Nationals Finalist, 2017 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional, Austin, & Midland Champion, 2014 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional & Houston Champion, multi-year State Finalist), Keller HS, TX (2023, 2015 BOA Grand Nationals Finalist, 2017 & multi-year BOA Regional and State Finalist), Broken Arrow Senior High School, OK (2006 BOA Grand Nationals Finals Champion), and Ronald Reagan High School, San Antonio, TX (2005 Bands of America Grand Nationals Semi-Finals Champion), to name a few. In addition to her own shows, she also orchestrates the shows of Aaron Guidry, at www.yataforluda.com.
At Texas Lutheran University, Chambers has taught a variety of music education courses, including Band and Brass Methods, Orchestration, Music Technology, Ear Training and Sight Singing, and Trumpet lessons, to name a few. Before teaching at TLU, Chambers taught middle school and high school band for many years in the North East Independent School District, San Antonio, TX. She also taught private lessons in NEISD.
Chambers received a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music Education from Texas Tech University. She studied under Vincent Cichowicz, Will Strieder, John Paynter, Arnold Jacobs, James Sudduth, and Pat Anthony. She and her husband Mark have three children: Catherine, Joshua, and Julia.
Questions regarding the MS Commission Project please email the MS commission chair.
PAYMENT OPTIONS
Payments will be accepted via online (link below) when they are ready. For checks, please contact the OBDA Treasurer (Keija Lee).
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