Ryan Ramirez-Gueta

Wind Ensemble
5/7/23
2nd Period

Aurora Awakes

John Mackey was born on October 1, 1973 in Westerville, Ohio. He was never

provided with music lessons from his parents. His grandparents taught him how to read

music and introduced him to digital music. John composed music for his own enjoyment

instead of education. Later on, he wrote his first piece called Lacrimosa at the age of 11.

What inspired him to compose his first piece was the film Amadeus. John also had

some help from his mother’s friends. His mother has a Ph.D. in music. He later on

graduated from Westerville South High. He also got his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in

1995 from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He then received a Master of Music degree

in 1997.

Aurora is the Roman goddess of the dawn – she is frequently associated with

beauty and light. Aurora is also known as Eos. Aurora was the daughter of the titans

Hyperion and Theia. Aurora would rise each morning and stream across the sky,

siignling the coming of her brother Sol, the sun. Though she is herself among the lesser

deities of Roman and Greek mythologies, her cultural influence has persevered, most

notably in the naming of the vibrant flashes of light that occur in Arctic and Antarctic

regions – the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis.