Western Michigan University’s School of Music hosts its 56th Annual Spring Conference on Wind and Percussion Music this week, culminating in a public finale concert Thursday, Apr 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Miller Auditorium. Director of Bands Dr. Scott Boerma previewed the event on with Cara Lieurance, joined remotely by featured guest composer Nicole Piunno.
Piunno, who teaches adjunct at Capital University near Columbus, Ohio, traces her path to composition through an unexpected detour. “I was actually supposed to be on track to being an orchestral trumpet player,” she says. “And I injured my lip, which ended that career — and that’s ultimately why I do composition now.”
Her music draws more from the visual arts than from other composers. Visiting the Columbus Museum of Art, Piunno encountered a large-scale photograph by artist Ori Gersht — a high-speed image of flowers being exploded — and was transfixed. “I sat there for hours,” she recalls. “And I came back day after day and eventually heard music in my head that I had to get out.” The result was Beauty Broken, one of her earliest and most-performed works, which the WMU Wind Symphony performs on the program…