Roja (for Solo Tenor Saxophone)

Composer: Soheil Shirangi
Year of Creation: April 2021
Performer: Drew Joseph Hosler
Event: Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame, November 2021

Roja takes its name from a distant star visible only briefly before dawn—a light so fragile that it fades beneath the brightness of the coming day. Written for solo tenor saxophone, the piece captures that fleeting beauty and sense of disappearance. Through delicate phrasing and sudden bursts of energy, it reflects both clarity and transience. The music unfolds like a memory appearing and vanishing in the same breath, evoking the brief, glowing presence of a star that few ever see.