The University of Akron Wind Symphony has been invited to perform its new symphony titled “TITAN” as part of the Ohio Music Educators Association (OMEA) conference at the Cleveland Convention Center on Friday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. in the CC Atrium Ballroom. The performance is free and open to the public.

On Thursday, the World Premiere of “TITAN” was performed by The UA Wind Symphony and the Lakota East High School band from Cincinnati at EJ Thomas Hall.

OMEA is a professional development conference for music teachers that also hosts student competitions and showcases student performances and new music.

The symphony, “TITAN” was written by Julie Giroux, a close friend of Galen Karriker, The University of Akron’s director of bands. The work takes listeners on a journey through the universe, with each movement focusing on different celestial objects.

Students were excited to perform the work even before playing through it.

“I think there are a lot of students in the band that are already fans of Julie Giroux,” Karriker said. “So, there was just this excitement about it.”

Another interesting facet of the experience for students was working with a live composer and being part of the composition process. Giroux attended a rehearsal virtually, and decided the piece was missing something, inspiring her to write an additional movement for the piece. Karriker then suggested completing the symphony with “Celestial Song” by Robert Spittal.

“Celestial Song” was written for the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, CT. The composer was inspired by a phrase heard in an interview calling the shooting victims ’26 new diamonds in the sky,’ making the piece a fitting addition to “TITAN.”

The addition of the two movements makes the symphony around 45 minutes long.

Karriker describes the experience of performing “TITAN” as a diverse group joining for a uniquely unified experience.

“You’re a group of individuals who are vastly different in so many different ways, and you play different instruments, and yet you come together and you work together to create this thing, this organism you know this living recreation of art,” he said.“You’re recreating somebody, someone else’s art through sound and that’s a really fascinating thing to experience.”

Find more information on the Ohio Music Educator’s Association 2025 Professional Development Conference here.