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Peter Boyer continues to be one of the most talented, versatile and successful living American classical composers. His brilliant symphonic music is celebrated across the United States and around the world as some of the most accessible and enjoyable repertoire composed in the recent years. Boyer has the distinct honour of being one of the most-performed American orchestral composers of his generation, with his works being programmed often by many U.S. orchestras, including some of the nation’s most renowned ensembles like the National Symphony Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Boston Pops. His work for actors and orchestra Ellis Island: The Dream of America, has become a true staple of modern American repertoire and has collected 265 performances by 120 different orchestras over the past 20 years.
In 2022, Peter Boyer produced the fourth album of his orchestral music, ‘Balance of Power’ and Other Orchestral Works. Released on the Naxos label as part of their successful “American Classics” series, the album features world premiere recordings of symphonic works composed by Peter Boyer over the last number of years, with the composer on the podium conducting the world-renowned London Symphony Orchestra in full strength. The piece from which the album takes its title (“Balance of Power”) is a major symphonic work in three movements commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the National Symphony Orchestra for its 90th anniversary season in honour of the 95th birthday of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The piece premiered in September 2021 (after being rescheduled due to the global pandemic) and adds another powerful item to Boyer’s growing catalogue of symphonic music.
In addition to “Balance of Power”, the album features seven shorter pieces composed for a variety of occasions and circumstances: fanfares originally commissioned by concert bands and now reorchestrated for full symphony (“Curtain Raiser,” “Fanfare, Hymn and Finale,” and the piece written for the inauguration of President of the United States Joe Biden, “Fanfare for Tomorrow”), a piece for soloists and string orchestra featuring Christine Pendrill on English Horn and Bryn Lewis on harp (“Elegy for English Horn, Harp and Strings”), a symphonic variation on the popular folk tune “Shenandoah” commissioned by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (“Rolling River—Sketches on ‘Shenandoah’”), a lyrical work for string orchestra composed during the early days of the 2020 Covid lockdown (“Radiance”), and a piece for solo trumpet and orchestra commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony for the Cincinnati Pops as a reflection on Veterans Day (“In the Cause of the Free”, with LSO Trumpet James Fountain). The album was recorded over two days at Henry Wood Hall in London, with legendary British audio engineer Simon Rhodes supervising the recording.
2023 is seeing Peter Boyer musically very productive. In addition to the ever-growing number of performances of his older works by symphony orchestras across the United States, Boyer keeps a busy schedule with new commissions and projects. This year, he had the distinguished honour of being the only American composer being asked to write a piece to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, a commission from vocal ensemble ORA Singers as part of a Coronation Celebration that took place at St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden on May 3, three days before the Coronation. Titled “Today We Ask,” the piece sets text written specially for the occasion by Welsh poet Grahame Davies and it’s scored for choir with the addition of brass quintet and timpani. It was performed together with music from Coronations and Royal occasions through four centuries, including works by Byrd, Purcell, Handel, and Vaughan Williams, and such contemporary masters as John Rutter, Judith Weir, James MacMillan, and Bob Chilcott.
The coming months will also see multiple performances of a new concert work composed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a true masterwork of American music, the “Rhapsody In Blue” by George Gershwin. Commissioned by American virtuoso pianist Jeffrey Biegel, “Rhapsody In Red, White & Blue” by Peter Boyer will premiere on June 30, 2023, on opening night of the Deer Valley Music Festival, with the Utah Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ben Manis and soloist Jeffrey Biegel on piano (the concert will also feature music by Gershwin, John Philip Sousa and John Williams). There are already 46 orchestras in 43 states around the U.S. committed to performing the work over the next three seasons.
The music of Peter Boyer is unabashedly tonal, earnest and very emotional, yet composed with a thorough attention to detail to achieve a high level of craft in the treatment of the orchestral resources. In this sense, the composer keeps alive the great tradition of such American luminaries of symphonic music as Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and John Williams. These three composers remain the cornerstone of Boyer’s musical vocabulary, to which he keeps adding his own touch of personality and original voice. Boyer’s music is not afraid to speak directly to the audience with a vernacular that calls back to the beloved heritage of Late Romantic and Early 20th century composers (and the many who followed in their footsteps), maintaining a true and heartfelt American spirit at the core that brings him particulary close to John Williams.
Boyer acknowledges how John Williams’s music is the gold standard for any orchestral composer when it comes to write instantly recognizable tunes and applying them with sensational dramatic instinct: “The ability to compose melodies which are compelling, distinctive and memorable is exceedingly rare, and I believe Williams is unrivaled among living composers in this respect,” said Boyer to The Legacy of John Williams in 2019. But he also points out the incredible quality of Williams’ orchestrations, a talent which according to him puts Williams on the same level of composers like Strauss, Ravel, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. “His orchestration skills place him among those masters, and there is so much to be learned from this type of study,” added Boyer.
After the written interview he did with The Legacy of John Williams in 2019, Peter Boyer returns this time as a guest on the podcast for the “Legacy Conversations” series to talk about his recent projects (including the recording of “Balance of Power”) and to offer more insightful and in-depth thoughts about his approach to composition, the challenges of writing for orchestra, his views on the contemporary classical scene and how John Williams remains for him a role model and an ongoing source of inspiration.
Special Thanks to Peter Boyer for his unlimited kindness, and to Milina Barry for the support and assistance.
Visit Peter Boyer official website:
https://propulsivemusic.com/
The Legacy of John Williams 