From the composer:

I have visceral childhood memories of going to the Belle Isle Indy car races in Detroit with my Dad. The smell of high-octane racing fuel, burning rubber, domestic beer, and feeling the scorching hot summer sun bouncing off the asphalt. The pitch-bending sounds of the Formula One cars screaming past us at insane speeds, the roar of the crowd at the checkered flag. Wildly dangerous, every boundary being tested, all for a chance at the winner's circle.

This competitive spirit inspired me to write a fanfare that pushes the boundaries of tempo, range & technical demand, and gives the conductor, performers, and listener a nice adrenaline rush too. I also wanted to push myself to write the most exciting, wildly chaotic music I could imagine.

Fast. Loud. And a bit reckless.

Composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, & Grammy-nominated music educator Andrew David Perkins (b.1978) holds an advanced specialist certificate in orchestration from the Berklee College of Music, a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University. Finalist for The National Band Association Revelli Award, Merrill Jones Award, and The Ravel International Composition Prize, his music has been featured at ABA Conventions, CBNDA National and Regional Conferences, TMEA, The Midwest Clinic, The Western International Band Clinic, and at numerous all-state concerts and state conferences. Mr. Perkins is the winner of the 2018 National Band Association/Alfred Publishing Young Band Composition Contest, and his concert band suite TUEBOR was selected as the winner of the 2023 American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Composition Contest.

Mr. Perkins has had the pleasure of receiving commissions from a number of organizations including The Royal Academy of Music London, Le Conservatoire de Limonest,  The Assembly Saxophone Quartet, The Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, Michigan State University, The University of San Diego, Purdue University Fort Wayne, The University of South Carolina, Wright State University, ​Sienna Heights University, Albion College, The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Bowling Green State University, The Flint Youth Symphony Orchestra, and The Pegasus Wind Symphony. His music is published through APOLLO STUDIOS Music Publishing (ASCAP), and he resides in Michigan with his family.

From the composer:

The five parts of this suite are named after French Provinces, the very ones in which the American and Allied armies fought together with the French underground of the liberation of my country: Normandy, Brittany, Ile-de-France (of which Paris is the center), Alsace-Lorraine, and Provence (my birthplace).

I used some folk tunes of these provinces. I wanted the young American to hear the popular melodies of those parts of France where their fathers and brothers fought to defeat the German invaders, who in less than seventy years have brought war, destruction, cruelty, torture, and murder three times to the peaceful and democratic people of France."

About the folk songs used in each movement:

Movement 1 - Normandie -  Milhaud uses two lively Norman folk songs: Germaine, about a warrior coming home as seen through the eyes of a young woman; and The French Shepherdess and the King of England, about a comic meeting between the two title characters. Milhaud added some original material to help him depict the region where so many American servicemen landed in France during World War II.

Movement 2 - Bretagne: A foghorn announces the beginning of Bretagne, a province with deep ties to the sea. The movement uses the sea shanties to depict the story of a young woman and her seafaring lover.

Movement 3 - Ile de France: With lively folk song, this movement depicts the bustle of Paris. It begins with a children’s round that alternates bars of 3 beats and 2, and which Milhaud sets in 4 beats while still retaining the accents of the original. The lyrical melody that follows also reflects the bubbly attitude of the City of Light.

Movement 4 - Alsace-Lorraine: Here, Milhaud takes a dark turn, with material suggesting distant artillery fire around a solemn funeral procession, fitting for a region that borders Germany and was taken over during the war.

Movement 5 - Provence: Reflecting on his home region, Milhaud utilizes a rondo with a fast, scatterbrained main theme, alternating with a fife-and-drum segment typical of the French Provinces countryside and a slower, slightly more romantic subject -- both of these interludes derived from the principal melody.

Darius Milhaud (4 September 1892, Aix-en-Provence, France – 22 June 1974 Geneva, Swizterland) was a French composer and educator.

Born to a Jewish family, Milhaud studied in Paris at the Paris Conservatory, where he met his fellow group members Arthur Honegger and Germaine Tailleferre. He studied composition under Charles Widor, harmony and counterpoint with André Gédalge, and studied privately with Vincent d'Indy. He was a member of Les Six - also known as the Groupe des Six - and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are particularly noted as being influenced by jazz and for their use of polytonality. As a young man, he worked for a while in the diplomatic entourage of Paul Claudel, the eminent poet and dramatist, who was serving as ambassador to Brazil.

On a trip to the United States in 1922, Darius Milhaud heard "authentic" jazz for the first time, on the streets of Harlem, which left a great impact on his musical outlook. Using some jazz movements, the following year he finished composing La Creation du Monde ("The Creation of the World"), which was cast as a ballet in six continuous dance scenes.

He left France in 1939 and emigrated to America in 1940 (his Jewish background made it impossible for him to return to his native country until after World War II). He secured a teaching position at Mills College in Oakland, California. Legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck arguably became Milhaud's most famous student when Brubeck furthered his music studies at Mills College in the late 1940s.

Milhaud was an extremely rapid creator, for whom the art of writing music seemed almost as natural as breathing. His most popular works include Le Boeuf sur le Toit (ballet), La Creation du Monde (a ballet for small orchestra with solo saxophone, influenced by jazz), Scaramouche (for Saxophone and Orchestra, and for two pianos), and Saudades do Brasil (dance suite).

From 1947 to 1971, he taught alternate years at Mills and the Paris Conservatoire, until poor health, which caused him to use a wheelchair during his later years (beginning sometime before 1947), compelled him to retire. 

Oliver Harbke, a 10th grader at Pleasant Valley High School (PVHS), studies clarinet with Dr. Elizabeth Matera. Oliver is completing his 4th year with the Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles and serves as principal clarinetist on the PVHS Wind Symphony Band, directed by Mr. Drew Anderson. Oliver has attended several honor bands, workshops, and festivals, including the 2025 Clareidoscope Conference, during which he participated in a Masterclass with AdZel Duo. Oliver was selected for the Southeast Iowa Bandmasters Association honor bands in 7th and 8th grade, and the Iowa Bandmasters Association All-State Honor Band in 8th grade. Oliver was selected to participate in the Iowa High School Music Association (IHSMA) All-State Honor Band in 9th and 10th grade, and the 2025 University of Iowa All-State Honor Band. Recently, Oliver was honored with a Best in Center recognition at the 2026 IHSMA All-State Solo and Ensemble Festival.

Outside of school and playing clarinet, Oliver enjoys gaming, watching anime, playing tennis, traveling, and spending time with friends.

Oliver is thankful for his circle of support, including his family, friends, and the many kind and helpful teachers he’s been able to learn from. In addition to Elizabeth Matera and Drew Anderson, Oliver wishes to recognize and express gratitude to Jessica Freemyer and Audra Bailey, and his PVHS directors and private instructors, Tara Daurer, Marc Gaskin, Brian Kling, and Elizabeth Weimer for their continued instruction and support. Oliver is thankful for this new experience and is excited to play with the Quad City Wind Ensemble!

Solo de Concours for Clarinet, was composed in 1901 for clarinetist Charles Turban, a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. Like all pièces de concours (competition pieces), it was written to assess the technical and expressive mastery of students preparing for graduation. The work was selected for several editions of the Conservatoire’s annual clarinet competition (in 1908, 1915, 1925, and 1937), a testament to its popularity and pedagogical value.

Since its creation, the Solo de Concours has become a cornerstone of the French academic clarinet repertoire. It is demanding yet deeply enjoyable to play—combining virtuosic passages with moments of lyrical beauty, offering the performer a chance to display both technical skill and musical sensitivity.

Henri Rabaud (10 November 1873, Paris – 11 September 1949, Paris) was a French conductor and composer, who held important posts in the French musical establishment and upheld mainly conservative trends in French music in the first half of the twentieth century.

Rabaud came from a musical background. He was the son of a cellist Hippolyte Rabaud (1839–1900), professor of cello at the Paris Conservatoire, while his mother was a singer who almost created the role of Marguérite at the request of Charles Gounod. Henri studied at the Conservatoire (1893-1894) with André Gedalge and Jules Massenet, where he showed innate talent and a conservative spirit.

In 1908, he became a conductor at the Paris Opéra-Comique where he later conducted the 100th performance of his opera Mârouf, savetier du Caire, and from 1914 to 1918, he directed the Paris Opéra. In 1918 he became musical director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for only one season before returning to Paris. While in Boston, he was elected to membership in the Alpha Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music.

Conservative as a composer, Rabaud was known for his mantra, "modernism is the enemy." His cantata Daphné won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome in 1894. His opéra comique Mârouf, savetier du Caire combines the Wagnerian and the exotic. He wrote other operas, including L'appel de la mer based on J. M. Synge's Riders to the Sea, as well as incidental music and film scores, such as the 1925 score for Joueur d'échecs (Chess Player). His oratorio Job (1900) was extremely successful.

Orchestral music by Rabaud includes a Divertissement on Russian songs, an Eglogue, a Virgilian poem for orchestra, as well as the symphonic poem La procession nocturne, his best-known orchestral work, still occasionally revived and recorded. He also wrote music for chorus and orchestra and two symphonies.

Joaquín Rodrigo’s Adagio para Orquestra de Instrumentos de Viento, which roughly translates to “Adagio for Orchestral Winds,” was his first composition for winds. It was written for the American Wind Symphony in 1966, receiving its premiere the same year under the baton of Robert Boudreau. Influences of French composers like Maurice Ravel and Paul Dukas are evident in this work, likely due to Rodrigo’s time spent studying composition in France. The A-B-A-B-A form is marked by two alternating segments—a lyrical, evocative A section and a driving, more angular B section. Many may recognize parts of the theme in the A-section of the piece to use his adagio theme from his Concierto de Aranjuez. Years after his Concerto and Adagio were premiered, Rodrigo revealed that the loss of their first child inspired this theme representing sadness, nostalgia, and a search for solace.

Despite having lost his vision at the age of three, composer Joaquín Rodrigo wrote a multitude of works during his lifetime, all in Braille and then transcribed for publication. Although he was a virtuoso pianist, many of Rodrigo’s most notable contributions were to the guitar repertoire. 

Joaquín Rodrigo was born in Sagunto (Valencia) on St Cecilia's day, the patron saint of music, 22 November 1901. 

At the age of three, he lost his sight almost completely as a result of an epidemic of diphtheria. As he himself was later to affirm, this event undoubtedly led to a vocation towards music. At the age of eight, he began his first musical studies, and at the age of sixteen began studying composition with teachers from the Conservatoire in Valencia: Francisco Antich, Enrique Gomá, and Eduardo López Chavarri. 

His first compositions date from 1923: Suite for piano, Dos esbozos (‘Two Sketches’) for violin and piano, and Siciliana for cello. In 1924, his first work for orchestra, Juglares, was premiered in Valencia and Madrid, and he obtained a diploma in a national competition for the orchestral work Cinco piezas infantiles, which was later premiered in Paris by the Straram Orchestra. From the outset of his career, Rodrigo wrote all his works in braille, dictating them subsequently to a copyist. 

In 1927, following the example of his predecessors Albéniz, Falla, Granados, and Turina, Rodrigo moved to Paris to enroll at the École Normale de Musique, where he studied for five years with Paul Dukas, who had a particular affection for his Spanish pupil. Rodrigo wrote his Sonada de adiós for piano in memory of Dukas in 1935. He soon became known as both pianist and composer, and became friendly with Honegger, Milhaud, Ravel, and many other musical celebrities of the time, among them Manuel de Falla, whose advice and support would be decisive in his career. 


In 1933, he married the Turkish pianist Victoria Kamhi, who, until she died in 1997, became his inseparable companion and the most important collaborator in all aspects of his work as a composer. 

In 1940, the world premiere took place in Barcelona of the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, a definitive example of his musical personality and a work which would bring him worldwide fame. From that moment on, Rodrigo was engaged in numerous artistic activities, both creative and academic, the following positions being of particular significance: Professor of the History of Music at the Complutense University of Madrid, Head of Music Broadcasts for Spanish Radio, music critic for several newspapers, and Head of the Artistic Section of the Spanish National Organization for the Blind (ONCE). 

Joaquín Rodrigo died at his home in Madrid on July 6, 1999, surrounded by his family. With the principal aim of ensuring the preservation and dissemination of Joaquín Rodrigo’s music throughout the world, the composer’s only daughter, Cecilia, who is married to the distinguished violinist Agustín León Ara, founded the publishing house of Ediciones Joaquín Rodrigo in 1989 and created the Victoria and Joaquín Rodrigo Foundation in 1999.

Alfred Reed's Hounds of Spring was inspired by a few lines from Algernon Charles Swinburne's poetic drama Atlanta in Calydon. The poem, a recreation in modern English verse of the Greek myth of the Calydonian boar hunt, focuses on themes of fate, love, and honor. The poem first appeared in print in 1865, when the poet was 28 years old, and Swineburn became an overnight success.

Of the piece, Alfred Reed said "When the hounds of spring are in winter's traces," a magical picture of young love in springtime, forms the basis for the present purely musical setting, in traditional three-part overture form, of this lovely paean... an attempt to capture the twin elements of the poem, exuberant youthful gaiety and the sweetness of tender love, in an appropriate musical texture. 

Below are a few lines of Swineburn's poem that inspired Alfred Reed:

When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces,

The mother of months in meadow or plain

Fills the shadows and windy places

With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain; 

And soft as lips that laugh and hide

The laughing leaves of the trees divide,

And screen from seeing and leave in sight

The god pursuing, the maiden hid.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Atlanta in Calydon

Alfred Reed (25 January 1921, Manhattan, N.Y. – 17 September 2005, Miami, Fla.) was an American composer, arranger, conductor, and educator. 

Born into a family of Austrian descent that cherished music, Alfred Reed began his musical studies at age ten on trumpet, and by high school, he was performing professionally in the Catskills at resort hotels. He served as a musician and arranger during World War II in the 529th Army Air Force Band, for which he created more than 100 works, and following the war, was a student of Vittorio Giannini at Juilliard. 

He was staff composer and arranger for both the National Broadcasting Corporation and the American Broadcasting Corporation. In 1953, Mr. Reed became conductor of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, at the same time completing his academic work; he received his B.M. in 1955 and his M.M. in 1956. His Master's thesis was the Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra, which later was to win the Luria Prize. It received its first performance in 1959 and was subsequently published in 1966. During his two years at Baylor, he also became interested in the problems of educational music at all levels, especially in the development of repertoire materials for school bands, orchestras, and choruses. This led, in 1955, to his accepting the post of editor at Hansen Publishing in New York. 

In 1966, he left this post to join the faculty of the School of Music at the University of Miami, holding a joint appointment in the Theory-Composition and Music Education departments, and to develop the unique (at the time) Music Industry degree program at that institution, of which he became director. 

With over 250 published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and various smaller chamber music groups, many of which have been on the required performance lists in this country for the past 20 years, Mr. Reed was one of the nation’s most prolific and frequently performed composers. 

His work as a guest conductor and clinician took him to 49 states, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and South America, and for many years, at least eight of his works have been on the required list of music for all concert bands in Japan, where he was the most frequently performed foreign composer today. He left New York for Miami, Florida, in 1960, where he made his home until his death.