Featured Composers

Ethel Mary Smyth

British composer Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (1858-1944) was a composer, conductor, author, and Suffragette.  Raised during the Victorian age, Smyth fought against societal restrictions that said a woman should not have a profession.  She insisted on an education, she insisted on performances of her works, and she insisted on having her works published.  Today Smyth should be heralded as a champion of women’s rights and a pioneer for women in the classical music world, but she is still relatively unknown.

Between 1880 and 1930, she published two sets of lieder, several songs for voice and piano or chamber ensemble, numerous chamber pieces, two symphonic works, six operas, a mass, and a choral symphony.  Today we also know of her unpublished works for solo piano, organ, and various chamber ensembles.  In addition to composing, Smyth was also a devoted letter-writer, and she turned to writing memoirs and essays later in her life, publishing ten volumes of prose between 1919 and 1940.

During her lengthy career in which she frequently traveled between England, Germany, and Italy, Smyth came to know Brahms, Clara Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Bruno Walter, and more.  She informally performed for Queen Victoria, and she was friends with the ex-Empress Eugenie of France and the Princesse de Polignac, Winnaretta Singer.  In the last decades of her life she formed strong  friendships with Edith Somerville and Virginia Woolf.

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 – Amy Zigler, Ph.D.

Source: https://www.ethelsmyth.org/about/biography/

Jules Strens

Born: December 5, 1892 - Ixelles, near Brussels, Belgium
Died: March 19, 1971 - Ixelles, near Brussels, Belgium

The Belgian organist and composer, JuIes Strens, studied violin at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and for a while he received advice from Paul Gilson in orchestration.

JuIes Strens persued a career a violinist and composer. Starting 1922 he was first violinist at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie. In 1925 (or 1926) he was one of 8 young progressive composers who founded of the Group des Synthétistes (all Gilson pupils), endeavoring to establish a modern style of composition within the formal categories of early music. From 1931 to 1934 he was conductor of the Association Symphonique de Bruxelles. Later in life he became active mainly as an organist.

As a composer, JuIes Strens was self-taught and prolific, sometimes mixing the grotesque with impressionist colours in a style that remained fundamentally romantic. His musical production is all embracing and earned him several awards. His first compositions were undeniably influenced by the conceptions of Richard Strauss. His symphonic variations Gil Blas are a good example of this tendency. The most predominant element in the evolution of his style is the use and study of polyrhythmics. The most typical compositions written in this technique are Danse funambulesque, Danse tragique and Rhapsodie polyrythmique.

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Source: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Strens-Jules.htm

PERCY GRAINGER

George Percy Grainger (1882-1961), musician, was born on 8 July 1882 at Brighton, Melbourne, only child of John Harry Grainger, architect, and his wife Rosa (Rose) Annie, née Aldridge, of Adelaide.

John Grainger (1855-1917) came originally from Durham, England, and was educated there and in London and France. He migrated to Adelaide in February 1877 to take up a post in the Engineer-in-Chief's Office; he resigned in mid-1878 to concentrate on his extensive private practice. Soon after his marriage to Rose on 1 October 1880 he set up in private practice in Melbourne, where he had made a name for himself in 1879 as winner of a competition for the design of the new Princes Bridge. Later, as chief architect in the Western Australian Department of Public Works in 1897-1905, he was responsible for sections of the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery, the Public Library of Western Australia and the Perth Law Courts, and for the first stage of Parliament House. The fine Wardens' Court in Coolgardie was designed by him. A close friend of David Mitchell and his family, he designed Dame Nellie Melba's Coombe Cottage, built at Coldstream near Melbourne in 1912.

Percy Grainger around 1912

Percy Grainger's parents, his mother particularly, had little doubt that he would be 'an artist'. The boy obliged by showing precocious talent in both graphic and musical arts, the first of which developed under his father's, the second under his mother's tutelage. He had three months formal schooling at the Misses Turner's Preparatory School for Boys in Caroline Street, South Yarra, probably in 1893 or 1894. His piano studies continued from 1892 with Louis Pabst, then, after Pabst's departure for Europe in 1894, with his pupil Adelaide Burkitt. He studied harmony for a brief period, possibly with Julius Herz. His first composition, a birthday gift for his mother, dates from 1893.

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Source: https://percygraingeramerica.org/Percy-Grainger

Nathan Daughtrey - Composer

Composer and keyboard percussionist Nathan Daughtrey is driven by curiosity, relentlessly seeking ways to meld his lifelong passions. As a performing artist & clinician for Yamaha percussion and Salyers Percussion mallets, his varied career has taken him all over the world, appearing as a keyboard soloist in Australia, Asia, Eastern Europe, and throughout North America. Nathan has released two solo marimba albums – Spiral Passages and The Yuletide Marimba – the latter featuring his original arrangements of popular Christmas carols for the instrument. Additionally, he has appeared on many other albums, including Emma Lou Diemer’s Pacific Ridge, performing as soloist on her Concerto in One Movement for Marimba & Orchestra with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Nathan first discovered and cultivated his compositional voice through works involving percussion, including solos, duets, and ensembles. After one too many experiences being a bored, young “drummer” in the back of a band room, he made it his mission to compose wind band music across all difficulty levels with engaging, independent percussion parts that add color and drive, making those players indispensable. Perhaps best known for his percussion ensemble pieces, like Mercury Rising and Firefly, Nathan has also amassed an impressive catalog of chamber works combining percussion with woodwinds, brass, strings, and voice. Being a collaborative chamber musician on his own pieces has been the most rewarding means of combining his passions for performing and composing. This is best illustrated on the album Praxis with euphoniumist Brian Meixner, which includes recordings of Nathan’s duet Spitfire and his award-winning Coming Home for solo euphonium & percussion quintet. He maintains a healthy commission schedule, composing works across genres for performers, ensembles, and directors worldwide.

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Source: https://www.nathandaughtrey.com/biography

Previously Featured Composers

Peter Graham

Peter Graham was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1958.  He studied at the University of Edinburgh and  undertook postgraduate studies with Edward Gregson at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He holds a PhD in composition.  From 1983 until 1986 he was resident in New York City, USA, where he worked as a freelance composer/arranger and as a publications editor with the S.A. Music Bureau. Since the publication of Dimensions (1983) he has carved out a niche as an outstanding arranger for brass bands, and a leading figure amongst contemporary band composers.

DESCRIPTION
Cats Tales is a five movement suite in popular and jazz styles commissioned by Yukihiro Higuchi for the Trailblazers Brass Ensemble. Brass Band Buizingen premiered the brass band version on February 9th 2008.

Peter Graham writes about this piece : 'In the early 1980's I had the good fortune to live and work in New York City. Since the 1930's The Big Apple has enjoyed a reputation as the jazz capital of the world. Indeed, jazz seemed to be a part of the very fabric of everyday life in the city. One might pass Frank Sinatra leaving The Players (Club) or Buddy Rich en route to a gig, while a few blocks south of my apartment the famous Blue Note Club played host to a succession of legendary jazz  'Cats',  from Dizzy Gillespie to rising star Wynton Marsalis'.

Cats Tales pays tribute to five wonderful musicians who shared a love of jazz and the city. New York born Elmer Bernstein is best remembered for his legendary film scores. Here Catalonia brings to mind some of those epic moments before a musical gear change that references the work of his contemporary colleague, known as "Bernstein East" (of whom more later). Henry Mancini studied his craft at the famous Julliard School in the Upper West Side. His most famous composition (which concerned a cat of the pink variety) provides the inspiration for the 2nd movement, Catwalk.  Both saxophone legend Sonny Rollins and George Gershwin were born in the city and two of their most influential compositions provide the foundations for the 3rd and 4th movements. Firstly, the Rollins jazz standard Airegin is given a contrafact treatment in Scat! allowing a number of instrumental soloists to shine, while another contrafact, Catnap, references a piece of familiar Gershwin.  Finally, no New York tribute would be complete without "Bernstein East", aka Leonard Bernstein. The presence of West Side Story looms large in the concluding Toccata.
 

Source: https://2017.bandpress.be/product/155/category/41/cats-tales-3-delen

Frank Tichelli

Bio

Frank Ticheli's music has been described as being “optimistic and thoughtful" (Los Angeles Times), “lean and muscular" (New York Times), “brilliantly effective" (Miami Herald) and “powerful, deeply felt crafted with impressive flair and an ear for striking instrumental colors" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel).  Ticheli (b. 1958) joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in 1991, where he is Professor of Composition.  From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was Composer in Residence of the Pacific Symphony.\

Frank Ticheli's orchestral works have received considerable recognition in the U.S. and Europe. Orchestral performances have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, the radio orchestras of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbruecken, and Austria, and the orchestras of Austin, Bridgeport, Charlotte, Colorado, Haddonfield, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Jacksonville, Lansing, Long Island, Louisville, Lubbock, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, San Antonio, San Jose, Wichita Falls, and others. His clarinet concerto was recently recorded by the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos label with soloist James Zimmermann.

Ticheli is well known for his works for concert band, many of which have become standards in the repertoire. In addition to composing, he has appeared as guest conductor of his music at Carnegie Hall, at many American universities and music festivals, and in cities throughout the world, including Schladming (Austria), Beijing and Shanghai, London and Manchester, Singapore, Rome, Sydney, and numerous cities in Japan.

Frank Ticheli is the recipient of a 2012 “Arts and Letters Award" from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, his third award from that prestigious organization. His Symphony No. 2 was named winner of the 2006 NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. Other awards include the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize and First Prize awards in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music.

In 2018, Ticheli received the University of Michigan Alumni Society’s highest honor, the Hall of Fame Award, in recognition for his career as a composer. He was also awarded national honorary membership to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, "bestowed to individuals who have significantly contributed to the cause of music in America," and the A. Austin Harding Award by the American School Band Directors Association, “given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the school band movement in America." At USC, he has received the Virginia Ramo Award for excellence in teaching, and the Dean's Award for Professional Achievement.

Frank Ticheli received his doctoral and masters degrees in composition from The University of Michigan. His works are published by Manhattan Beach, Southern, Hinshaw, and Encore Music, and are recorded on the labels of Albany, Chandos, Clarion, Equilibrium, Klavier, Koch International, Mark, Naxos, and Reference.

Source: https://www.manhattanbeachmusiconline.com/frank_ticheli/biography.html

David Biedenbender

David Biedenbender (b. 1984, Waukesha, Wisconsin) is a composer, conductor, performer, educator, and interdisciplinary collaborator. David’s music has been described as “simply beautiful” (twincities.com), “striking” and “brilliantly crafted” (Times Argus) and is noted for its “rhythmic intensity” (NewMusicBox) and “stirring harmonies.” (Boston Classical Review) “Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played.” (Examiner.com) “Clearly, this is a composer to watch out for.” (Fanfare Magazine) He has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic music. His creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data.

David has had the privilege of collaborating with many renowned performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Stenhammar String Quartet (Sweden), the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the United States Navy Band, the Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Music from Copland House Ensemble, Detroit Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Randall Hawes and pianist Kathryn Goodson, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Washington Kantorei, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, the Boston New Music Initiative, Ann Arbor Dance Works, Composer’s Inc. (San Francisco), and the Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble.

Recent recognition for David’s work includes the 2018 Rudolf Nissim Prize for Cyclotron, the 2019 Sousa/Ostwald Award, two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2011, 2012) and the 2012 Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award. His music has been heard in many diverse venues, including Carnegie Hall, Gaudeamus Muziekweek/TivoliVredenberg (Netherlands), Symphony Space (New YorkCity), the Smithsonian Museum, the German Embassy (Washington, DC), the Antonín Dvořák Museum (Prague), the Old First Church (San Francisco), Harris Hall (Aspen Music Festival), the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Hill Auditorium (Ann Arbor, MI), as well as at numerous universities and conservatories, and it has been broadcast on NPR stations around the country, including on WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer and on Center Stage from Wolf Trap. David’s music can also be heard on many commercially available recordings, including on Naxos, XAS, Summit, Cobra, GIA, Centaur, Bright Shiny Things, and Innova record labels, among others. Recent and upcoming commissions and projects include works for yMusic, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, San Francisco Symphony principal trombonist Tim Higgins, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, the Edge Ensemble, the Sinta Saxophone Quartet, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, and the Garth Newel Piano Quartet.

In addition to composing, David is a dedicated teacher. He is Associate Professor of Composition in the College of Music at Michigan State University,  and he previously taught composition and theory at Boise State University, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, Madonna University, the Music in the Mountains Conservatory, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He has also taught an interdisciplinary course in creativity and collaboration in the Living Arts program at the University of Michigan. His composition students have achieved regional and national recognition for their creative work, including numerous awards and acceptance into renowned summer music festivals and undergraduate and graduate composition programs.

He received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory from Central Michigan University. His primary musical mentors include Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, Stephen Rush, Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Christopher Lees, David R. Gillingham, José Luis-Maurtúa, and John Williamson. He has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden with Anders Hillborg and Steven Stucky, the Aspen Music Festival and School with Syd Hodkinson, and in Mysore, India where he studied South Indian Carnatic music, focusing on the mridangam with Vidwan G.S. Ramanujan.

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Source: https://davidbiedenbender.com/about/

Michael Kamen - Composer

Born in New York City on April 15, 1948, he showed musical talent from infancy. He played any instrument he came across and sang everything from bluegrass to Bach. He attended New York's High School of Music and Art. Then while studying oboe at Juilliard, together with his friends (one of them composer Mark Snow) he formed a rock-classical fusion band called The New York Rock and Roll Ensemble, which appeared on the first of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic; it was Bernstein himself who introduced Kamen to symphonic arranging and composing.

Throughout his career Michael worked on all aspects of making his music. He performed, mainly on the oboe and piano, composed on keyboards and especially his Kurzweil, orchestrated and conducted his music. He then oversaw each stage of the delivery usually with multiple projects overlapping and near impossible deadlines. He created unique collaborations harnessing incredible teams and orchestras across the world.

Kamen's early creative work centered on ballets (he wrote twelve: for the Harkness Ballet, Louis Falco, Alvin Ailey, Joffrey Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Jennifer Muller/The Works and Milan's La Scala). This led him deeper into pop and rock arranging when David Bowie asked him to be Music Director as he developed the Diamond Dogs Tour. His work expanded further into Hollywood film with his score for The Next Man (1976) and he moved to England to continue collaborating with Pink Floyd after his orchestrations on The Wall album. It was his distinctive string arrangements that brought him in to orchestrate, conduct and play for the Eurythmics, Kate Bush, Tim Curry and many others, with their working relationships often continuing on into long term friendships.

With his music gaining a reputation for pulling on heartstrings, and ramping the tension in action scenes especially, Michael established himself among the leading Hollywood film composers, with scores for over eighty movies and television shows - including the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard series, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 101 Dalmatians, X-Men, Licence To Kill, Band of Brothers, Highlander, Event Horizon, The Dead Zone, Last Action Hero, Frequency, Edge of Darkness, Brazil and The Iron Giant, as well as music for the closing ceremony of the 1996 Summer and 2002 Winter Olympics.

His work garnered two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe Awards, four Grammys and an Emmy.

Source https://www.michaelkamen.com/biography-album-art-rearranged-by-moritz

Previous Featured Composers

Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921 and moved with his family to New York City at a young age. When his father bought him a bandoneón, an Argentine accordion-like instrument that is essential to the tango sound, he quickly became known as a child prodigy and wrote his first tango at 11. 

In 1937, he returned to Argentina where traditional tango still reigned supreme. Once home, Piazzolla actually gave up tango to study classical music and become a modernist classical composer. He traveled to Paris on a scholarship to apprentice under eminent French composer Nadia Boulanger, who prepared him for his next return home in 1955. Back in Argentina, he applied years of classical study to the tango sound and formed his band “Octeto Buenos Aires.” Coined as the “nuevo tango,” Piazolla's fresh take incorporated elements of jazz and classical music with new instruments, changing the tempo, the sound, and the tradition of dance.

Throughout his life, it’s estimated that Piazzolla wrote approximately 3,000 original compositions and recorded another 500. In honor of his 100th birthday, the Astor Piazzolla Foundation recently announced the Piazzolla Music competition for soloists and ensembles alike.

Source: https://www.google.com/doodles/astor-piazzollas-100th-birthday

Julie Ann Giroux was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on December 12, 1961. She graduated from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA in 1984. She started playing piano at 3 years of age and began composing at the age of 8 and has been composing ever since. Her first published work for concert band, published by Southern Music Company was composed at the age of 13.  

Julie began composing commercially in 1984. She was hired by Oscar winning composer Bill Conti as an orchestrator,  her first project with Conti being “North & South” the mini-series. With over 100  film, television and video game credits, Giroux collaborated with dozens of film composers, producers, and celebrities including Samuel Goldwyn, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Celene Dion, Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Paul Newman, Harry Connick Jr. and many others. Projects she has worked on have been nominated for Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Golden Globe awards. She has won individual Emmy Awards in the field of “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction”. When She won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman and the youngest person to ever win that award.  She has won it three times.

Giroux has also published a large category of classical works with emphasis on original compositions for Wind Band which are published by Musica Propria and distributed internationally. She is greatly sought after as a composer and recently completing her 5th Symphony “Sun, Rain & Wind” which premiered in June, 2018. Her music has been recorded and reviewed internationally receiving top reviews and her music has been performed at major music festivals the world over.

Giroux has been a true force in a male dominated field and has accrued many previously male only awards. She is a member of ASCAP, The Film Musicians Fund, Kappa Kappa PSI, Tau Beta Sigma and a member of the American Bandmasters Association. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Service to Music Medal Award, Emmy Awards and was the first female composer inducted into the American Bandmasters Association in 2009.

Source: https://www.juliegiroux.org/bio-discs

John Mackey (he/him) has written for orchestras (Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Youth Symphony), theater (Dallas Theater Center), and extensively for dance (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Parsons Dance Company, New York City Ballet), but the majority of his work for the past decade has been for wind ensembles (the fancy name for concert bands), and his band catalog now receives annual performances numbering in the thousands.

Recent commissions include works for the BBC Singers, the Dallas Wind Symphony, military, high school, middle school, and university bands across America and Japan, and concertos for Joseph Alessi (principal trombone, New York Philharmonic) and Christopher Martin (principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic). In 2014, he became the youngest composer ever inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. In 2018, he received the Wladimir & Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

He resides in San Francisco, California, with his spouse, a philosopher who works on the ethics of technology, and also titles all of his pieces; and their cats, Noodle and Bloop.

Source: https://www.johnmackey.com/biography

Brian Sadler is a Musician First Class and trombonist/arranger in the US Navy Fleet Bands.  He graduated from Pocono Mountain High School in Swiftwater, PA in 2001 and a few months later enlisted in the US Navy after  a successful audition. His duty stations include the CINC South Band in Naples, Italy (2002-2004); Navy Band Northwest in Silverdale, Washington (2005-2006); US Fleet Forces Band in Norfolk, VA (2009-2010); the 7th Fleet Band in Yokosuka, Japan (2010-2014); Navy Band Southeast in Jacksonville, Florida (2014-2017); the US Naval Forces Europe Band in Naples, Italy (2017-2020), and currently he is the Arranging Instructor at the Naval School of Music in Virginia Beach, VA. 

During his combined 18 years of Naval service, Brian has composed and arranged more than 200 pieces for concert band, brass ensemble, brass quintet, woodwind quintet, jazz big band, and marching band. After his first 5-year enlistment, Brian studied music composition at Arizona State University from 2006-2009 and returned to the Navy before he could graduate, later finishing his BA in music online through Charter Oak State College.

Brian has written a number of award winning pieces including Action Brass (winner of the Excellence in Composition Award from the 2008 International Brass Music Festival), Action Fanfare and Unveiling (winners of the 2008 and 2015 Dallas Winds Brass Fanfare Contest, respectively), and America’s Navy: A Global Force for Good (2nd place winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs’ 2011 US Armed Forces Composition Contest).  In 2015 he was commissioned by the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra to compose Journey for Tuba and Orchestra featuring tubist Eric Henry. His most well-known compositions, however, are his unique solos for low brass and digital accompaniment.

Source: https://briansadler.org/bio

Philip Sparke was born in London and studied composition, trumpet and piano at the Royal College of Music, where he gained an ARCM.

It was at the College that his interest in bands arose. He played in the College wind orchestra and also formed a brass band among the students, writing several works for both ensembles.  At that time, his first published works appeared - Concert Prelude (brass band) and Gaudium (wind band). A growing interest in his music led to several commissions, his first major one being for the Centennial Brass Band Championships in New Zealand – The Land of the Long White Cloud. Further commissions followed from individual bands, various band associations and the BBC, for whom he three times won the EBU New Music for Band Competition (with Slipstream, Skyrider and Orient Express). He has written for brass band championships in New Zealand, Switzerland, Holland, Australia and the UK, including three times for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall.

A close association with banding in Japan led to a commission (Celebration) from and eventual recording of his music with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. This opened the door worldwide to his wind band music and led to several commissions, particularly from the United States. In 1996 the US Air Force Band commissioned and recorded Dance Movements, which won the prestigious Sudler Prize in 1997. In September 2000 he was awarded the Iles Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for his services to brass bands. In 2005 Music of the Spheres won the National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. He won the same contest again in 2016 with A Colour Symphony. In 2011 he received the BUMA International Brass Award and the 4barsrest.com Special Award for his contribution to brass music. In 2018 he was presented with the International Award at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago and was appointed visiting professor at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Kawasaki, Japan, the following year. In 2020 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Bandmasters Association.

His conducting and adjudicating activities have taken him to most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada and the USA. In May 2000, he took the major step of becoming a full-time composer by founding his own publishing company, Anglo Music Press. The company is devoted to publishing his brass band, concert band, fanfare band and instrumental publications as well as recordings dedicated to his latest works.

Source: https://www.philipsparke.com/biography