Countdown to Midnight at Carnaval (for Orchestra and Alto/Tenor Saxophone)

Countdown to Midnight at Carnaval was inspired by my own experience of the world-renowned Carnival (or Carnaval in Portuguese) which I was able to attend for a single night in early 2020.
Carnaval is an annual Brazilian festival held on the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. During Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival", from carnelevare, "to remove (literally, "raise") meat."
Carnaval has grown to become the biggest festival in Brazil (and perhaps the world), with parades and parties being held across the country. Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval in 2011 drew 4.9 million people on its own, with 400,000 of that number being tourists or visitors who came just to celebrate the festival!
Although Carnaval celebrations in Brazil have been suspended for the first time 108 years due to COVID-19, this piece might help you to imagine the excitement of the Carnaval at midnight: the slow build as people flock to the festival, leading to an explosion of parades and parties that creates a wonderful chorus of celebration, followed by a gradual fade-away as everyone drifts off into their own celebrations and the Carnaval winds down for the night - only for the party to start again the next day.