21st Century (2009). For trumpet, violin & piano. This music was commissioned by the Aries Trio (Richard Stoelzel, trumpet / Rebecca Wilt, Piano / MingHuan Xu, Violin) for premier performance at the 2009 International Trumpet Guild Conference, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The piece is based around the style of a modern tango. I drew much inspiration from listening to the excellent compositions of Astor Piazzolla, perhaps one of the greatest tango composers and performers of our time. The form has an interesting 8-bar/12-bar form in the beginning with trumpet. Afterwards, the violin presents a slight variation on the theme. Common to many modern tangos is a contrasting middle section. Here the piano plays a rubato solo in the very high register which further gives the piece a warm, introspective quality. Then all the instruments join in on a variation of the melody, this time with a classic tango rhythmic ostinato. The piece continues to build with intensity and speed to the end. -the composer