Holding Starlight

A sentimental, emotional, and nostalgic piece for orchestra. View the full score at: https://musescore.com/user/6108706/sc... Holding Starlight is a tender orchestral work for full orchestra, written for conductor-led student and professional ensembles. At approximately 3 minutes and 24 seconds, it offers a complete emotional arc in a compact concert form, moving from quiet stillness through longing, recollection, tension, reunion, and a final luminous fade. The piece was inspired by love across distance. After a difficult season marked by prolonged separation from someone close to the composer, the act of reconnecting gave ordinary moments a new emotional weight. A later night of stargazing became the image behind the work: a quiet shared experience beneath the night sky, remembered with tenderness and gratitude. Holding Starlight reflects the desire to preserve that kind of moment, when time feels briefly suspended and deeply human. Musically, the work opens in F major with soft sustained winds and strings, shaped by warm harmonic motion and gentle decrescendos. The first major statement introduces ascending lines in the upper voices, while the lower orchestra supports the harmony with calm, grounded sonorities. The second statement adds tremolo strings, fuller brass color, and suspended cymbal resonance, creating a shimmering orchestral texture that grows without losing intimacy. The middle section moves into F minor and explores a more searching emotional space. Modal color, darker harmonic turns, and brief modulation give the work its sense of distance and memory. A brighter shift through D major and a soft A minor transition prepare the return to F major, where the full ensemble reaches the emotional climax. Timpani, suspended cymbal, brass, and chimes mark the arrival, then the orchestra gradually releases into a quiet ppp ending. This piece is well suited for concert programs centered on love, memory, night imagery, healing, reunion, reflection, or contemporary lyrical orchestral writing. It is accessible enough for strong student ensembles and expressive enough for professional performance. The technical writing is approachable, while the musical demands require maturity, patience, tone control, and careful attention to balance. Score details: Full conductor’s score. Approximate performance time: 3 minutes and 24 seconds. Meter: 3/4 throughout. Tempo: quarter note equals 80, with written ritardandi. Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 B-flat clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 B-flat trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, suspended cymbal, chimes, and strings. Difficulty: moderate to moderately advanced, with emphasis on intonation, phrasing, dynamic shaping, tremolo control, brass balance, and coordinated final releases. Holding Starlight Composed by Rafael Soliz Jr (ASCAP) © 2026 ℗ 2026 EquilibriArts Publishing. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. ASCAP Registered. Made in U.S.A. Public performances of this work must be reported to ASCAP. Educational Use: K-12 schools are granted permission to perform this work publicly for non-commercial, educational purposes without requiring ASCAP licensing or reporting. This permission applies solely to performances within school-related activities and does not extend to commercial use or performances outside an educational setting. Recording Distribution: Certain non-commercial digital recordings of this work may be freely distributed for personal and educational use only, provided that the composer's name ("Rafael Soliz Jr") is clearly tagged in the metadata of the digital file or on the media label. ISRC: QT-42S-26-00004 ASCAP Work ID: 937819966