Lux Perpetua was composed for the Baylor University Wind Ensemble in memory of two young clarinetist members of that ensemble, Laura Onwudinanti and Jack Stewart, whose lives were tragically cut short in an automobile accident in 2014. The work’s title is drawn from the last line of the Latin text, Lux aeterna: “et lux perpetua luceat eis” (and let perpetual light shine upon them). The idea of light as both protector and illuminator was constantly in my mind as I composed the piece. Two kinds of...