Charles Edward Ives, the convention-shattering American modernist composer, was born 142 years ago today, October 20th, 1874, in Danbury, Connecticut. Ives would later pen some of the most remarkable music every composed, anticipating many later twentieth-century musical innovations by decades, and establishing himself as one of the first true American master composers. Ives had early musical training from his father, a creative Civil War bandmaster named George Ives, who was

The University of Maryland School of Music's Instagram feed, @terpsmusic , captured our setup for the Stucky Percussion Concerto at the dress rehearsal yesterday. You've got to see it to believe it... click "Read More" for the video, and check us out on Instagram, too - @umwindorch . UMWO Concert Saturday, October 8, 8:00 pm, Dekelboum Concert Hall. #stucky #umwo #blog

The graduate wind conducting studio visited the UMD SOM library Special Collections this morning to visit some of the artifacts from the Patrick S. Gilmore collection. What a privilege to play host to such a paramount leader in the history of the wind band! #history #archives #gilmore #blog

"Classical music is dying" is a familiar trope, with many high-profile orchestras struggling to find audiences and fund their institutions. The recent trend of strikes, lockouts, and high-stakes labor negotiations between ensemble administrations and musicians has been in the news again lately, with the announcement this weekend that both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia orchestra musicians would walk out on the very beginnings of their season. The New York Times highlighted this

Sir Neville Marriner, the well-known British conductor, violinist, and founder of the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields, has passed away after a long life and career. Many Americans first came in contact with Marriner's work through the soundtrack to the 1984 film, Amadeus, one of the best-selling classical albums of all time. Collected obituaries: - BBC - Washington Post - NPR Music #conductors #blog

Check out photos from UMWO's recording session today for the Stucky Concerto for Percussion and Wind Orchestra, available on the UMWO Instagram and Twitter accounts. #umwo #blog #stucky #soloist

UMWO's first concert this season (October 8th) will feature the return of a familiar collaborator - Lee Hinkle, Lecturer in Percussion and d

We finally have a working title, and music for our commissioned piece from Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). His new work is titled The Order of an Empty Place. Below are DBR's program notes on the piece, hot off the presses. The Wind Orchestra is very excited to premier this new and exciting new work for full instrumentation wind orchestra plus solo electric violin, and we hope to have a great showing in the audience for this concert on the 29th of March! THE ORDER OF AN EMPTY P

This Tuesday's Composers Datebook entry featured wind music: John Harbison's Three City Blocks. In this composition, the composer taps into a period where every hotel in a major city had their own dance band. Like other composers of wind music, Harbison uses a hint (perhaps more than a hint in Three City Blocks,) of jazz influences. Click here to listen to the Datebook entry. #blog

I thought it would be good to highlight an ensemble which has served as an excellent model for the UM Wind Orchestra in recent years. 8 years ago, conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez and artistic adviser Joseph Horowitz teamed up to form the DC-based Post-Classical Ensemble. This ensemble is really the essence of "New Lights" (an initiative UMD has put forth to re-create the concert going experience), as the group uses all means necessary to enliven and re-envision the way audiences