Distant Land

Originally written as a choral piece inspired by the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, composer John Rutter was encouraged to make a purely orchestral version from which this concert band arrangement has been adapted. Rutter says, "Listeners who know the original version may miss the texts; but looking at it another way, your imagination can be set free with no words to constrain you and tell you what the music is about." A fitting tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela, a leader of the anti-apartheid movement who eventually became South Africa's first black president and the first president to be elected in a fully democratic election.