''Niagara Falls'' for Symphonic Band (1997) by American composer

Michael Daugherty Michael Kevin Daugherty (born April 28, 1954) is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. He is influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism. Daugherty's notable works include his Superman comic book-inspired ''Metropolis Sym ...

, is his first composition for

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

. It is a 10-minute, single-movement work, that (through evocative timbres) explores the most visited waterfalls in the world. ''Niagara Falls'' was commissioned by the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Bands in honor of its centennial, and dedicated to

H. Robert Reynolds H. Robert Reynolds is an American musician, conductor and academic. He is currently the principal conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he holds the H. Robert Reynolds Pro ...

. The premiere was performed by the University of Michigan Symphony Band, under the direction of Reynolds, in October 1997, at

Hill Auditorium Hill Auditorium is the largest performance venue on the University of Michigan campus, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The auditorium was named in honor of Arthur Hill (1847-1909), who served as a regent of the university from 1901 to 1909. He bequeathe ...

in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2000,

the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps (also known as "The Green Machine") is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Rosemont, Illinois. The Cavaliers were one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps International ...

performed a variation of Daugherty's ''Niagara Falls'' to a first-place tie with the Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps at the DCI World Championships in College Park, MD. The composition served as the soundtrack for the hour-long

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

documentary special ''

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

'', which first aired on September 11, 2006.

References

Compositions by Michael Daugherty 1997 compositions Concert band pieces Niagara Falls in fiction University of Michigan {{Classical-composition-stub

See also

References