Challenging Chaos was composed in the summer of 2023 for the Oxford University Wind Orchestra and their conductor Maria Copley. The music takes the basic form of a march with trio but, as its title implies, does not otherwise follow any of the conventions of the genre and is only intermittently a ‘march’ in the loosest possible sense of the term. The ‘trio’ section, which returns as a coda, borrows a national anthem in a slightly disguised harmonisation. Distorted fragments of the tune can also be heard in other sections of the piece. I do not identify the tune itself because this would give the piece a more ‘localised’ significance than is my intention. Nonetheless for those who happen to recognise it as a lived experience - as opposed to reading about it in a programme note – it would lend the piece a specific resonance that I am happy to acknowledge. Challenging Chaos was first performed by the Oxford University Wind Orchestra conducted by Maria Copley in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford on November 23rd 2023.