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McLearnon- Aurora for Flute Ensemble

McLearnon- Aurora for Flute Ensemble

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McLearnon- Aurora for Flute Ensemble

Composer: Gareth McLearnon
General playing score and 4 concert flute parts, 2 alto flute parts and 1 bass/contrabass flute part
Publisher: Gareth McLearnon

About

Aurora is an exuberant, space-age work for flute orchestra, written for an unusual double world premiere in the northern and southern hemispheres within the same 24 hours.

The piece came about because, rather inconveniently, I discovered that I had agreed to appear at both the Finnish Flute Festival in Helsinki and the Australian Flute Festival in Sydney on essentially the same dates in October 2025.

I had committed to Helsinki first, so that was the engagement I needed to honour.

But rather than simply accepting that I couldn't be in Australia as well, I started thinking about what might connect two flute festivals taking place almost simultaneously on opposite sides of the planet.

The answer was: Aurora Borealis. Aurora Australis. The Northern Lights and the Southern Lights.

That immediately became the starting point for a piece designed not just to be performed in both hemispheres, but to connect them.

The two performances ultimately took place within only a matter of hours of one another. We even exchanged videos between Helsinki and Sydney, metaphorically touching fingertips through the piece across thousands of kilometres.

Musically, Aurora begins as a shimmering, free, constantly changing soundscape before gradually clicking into a bright, thoroughly rhythmic world of groove, crunchy harmony and space-age optimism.

And because no two conductors will ever shape that opening in exactly the same way: no two performances of Aurora can ever be identical.

Duration: 7 minutes

The piece includes extended techniques.

-Gareth McLearnon

Difficulty

  • Flute 1: Advanced
  • Flute 2: Advanced
  • Flute 3: Intermediate
  • Flute 4: Intermediate
  • Alto Flute 1: Upper Intermediate to Advanced
  • Alto Flute 2: Upper Intermediate to Advanced
  • Bass Flute: Upper Intermediate to Advanced
  • Contrabass Flute (optional): Advanced

Note from composer

The four concert-flute parts follow a structure I use in a number of my larger ensemble works: the first two parts carry the stronger technical demands, while Flutes 3 and 4 are somewhat more accessible.

The doubled Alto Flute writing is particularly important to the sound of Aurora. I had become increasingly interested in what happens when the flute orchestra has enough independent voices below the normal concert-flute register. One Alto part simply wasn't enough. With two Altos, plus Bass and optional Contrabass material, I can create the thicker, richer and crunchier harmony that I naturally want to write.

That deeper harmonic palette became increasingly important in later works including DEEP DISH and Seconds on State Street.

About Gareth McLearnon

Gareth McLearnon is an internationally renowned flutist, composer, arranger and educator from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and based in Strasbourg, France. His career has taken him across six continents as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, recording artist and teacher.

Principal Flute of the Heritage Orchestra since 2009 and a Wm. S. Haynes Artist, he has performed and taught at leading conservatoires, festivals and concert venues around the world. His recording work spans film and television, multi-award-winning and multi-million-selling video games, library music and commercial album releases.

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