“Highly cinematic with rousing brass flourishes and over-the-top percussion… it immediately commands the listener’s attention.”
Classical Lost and Found

Composed originally as the first movement of On Music’s Wings for the Pacific Symphony’s 25th anniversary celebration, Silver Fanfare has been performed by many of America’s most prominent orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Utah Symphony, Boston Pops, San Diego Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Boyer’s recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra has become popular on many American classical radio stations, with hundreds of broadcasts around the United States, and has also been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and others abroad.

Silver Fanfare has enjoyed several special distinctions in high-profile programs: it was the opening work of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons of the Hollywood Bowl (sharing the bill with rock/pop groups Journey, Steely Dan, and The Moody Blues); the opening work of the 2011 season of the Boston Pops; nationally telecast from the Nashville Symphony’s 2019 and 2023 Fourth of July concerts with fireworks before huge audiences; and was performed during the opening week of the San Diego Symphony’s Rady Shell in 2021.

A new version for concert band, transcribed by Don Patterson, was created for “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in 2019, and performed on that famed ensemble’s West Coast concert tour in October 2019 (including a concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall, at which John Williams made a surprise appearance to conduct his own music).

Instrumentation

picc.2.3(III=corA).3(III=bcl).3(III=cbsn)—4.3.3.1—timp.perc(4)—harp—pft—strings

Duration

4:00

Composition Date and Commission

Composed 2004
Commissioned by the Pacific Symphony to celebrate its 25th anniversary season

Critical Acclaim

“This delightful concert work has a sort of Bruce Broughton/John Williams-esque style with great writing across the orchestra…”
Cinemusical

“Peter Boyer’s brilliant Silver Fanfare helped kick off the [Cleveland Orchestra] program…”
The Plain Dealer

View Performance History

— Premiered by the Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair, conductor (as the first movement of On Music’s Wings), June 13, 2004
— Performed by the Nashville Symphony, Byung-Hyun Rhee, conductor, June 6, 2006
— Performed by the Pasadena Pops Orchestra, Rachael Worby, conductor, September 8 & 9, 2006
— Performed by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Olomouc, Czech Republic, Lawrence Golan, conductor, June 20, 2007, and recorded by those performers; recording released on compact disc by Albany Records (Troy #1027), May 2008
— Performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra, Keith Lockhart, conductor, at Symphony Hall, Boston, May 11-14, 2011 (five performances)
— Performed by the Lancaster (Ohio) Festival Orchestra, Gary Sheldon, conductor, July 21, 2012
— Performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, David Charles Abell, conductor, at Riverbend Music Center, July 4, 2014
— Performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, at the Hollywood Bowl Opening Night Gala with Journey, June 20, 2015
— Performed by the Temecula Valley Symphony (Inland Valley Symphony), John Mario Di Costanzo, conductor, May 21, 2016
— Performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, at the Hollywood Bowl Opening Night Gala with Steely Dan, June 18, 2016
— Performed by the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Schulze, conductor, at Antietam National Battlefield, July 2, 2016
— Performed by The Cleveland Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, at Severance Hall, January 15, 2017; broadcast live on WCLV and WCPN
— Performed by the Salt Lake Symphony, Robert Baldwin, conductor, March 18, 2017
— Performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, at Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl with The Moody Blues, June 17, 2017
— Performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, John Morris Russell, conductor, at Riverbend Music Center, July 4, 2017
— Performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, January 15, 2018
— Performed by the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, Phil Preddice, conductor, at Carnegie Hall, New York City, May 6, 2018
— Performed by the Coachella Valley Symphony, John Mario Di Costanzo, conductor, May 11, 2018
— Performed by the Plymouth (Mass.) Philharmonic Orchestra, Steven Karidoyanes, conductor, September 29, 2018
— Performed by the Nashville Symphony, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor, December 8, 2018
— Performed by the Nashville Symphony, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor, at Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4, 2019 (national telecast with fireworks on CMT)
— Performed (concert band version, transcribed by Master Gunnery Sgt. Don Patterson) by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Colonel Jason K. Fettig, conductor, on its West Coast concert tour, October 2019 (9 performances): Seattle, Washington (Oct. 2); Milwaukee, Oregon (Oct. 5); Eugene, Oregon (Oct. 8); Grass Valley, California (Oct. 11); Rohnert Park, California (Oct. 15); Salinas, California (Oct. 18); San Luis Obispo, California (Oct. 21); Royce Hall, UCLA (Oct. 23); Imperial, California (Oct. 27)
— Performed (concert band version) by the University of Utah Wind Ensemble, Scott Hagen, conductor, December 4, 2019
— Performed (concert band version) by the University of Mississippi Wind Ensemble, David Willson, conductor, February 21, 24, 25, 2020 (7 performances)
— Performed (concert band version) by the TCU Wind Symphony, Bobby Francis, conductor, October 15, 2020 (online streamed performance)
— Performed by the Utah Symphony, Conner Gray Covington, conductor, July 7, 2021
— Performed by the San Diego Symphony, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor, at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, San Diego, August 13, 2021
— Performed (concert band version) by the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble, Sharon Lavery, conductor, October 29, 2021
— Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, at Symphony Hall, Boston, May 4-7, 2022 (six performances)
— To be performed by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, conductor, January 20-22, 2023


— Boston Pops performance broadcast on WGBH 99.5, May 14, 2011
— Recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter Boyer, conductor, at Abbey Road Studios, London, June 17, 2013; released worldwide by Naxos in its American Classics Series (#8.559769), February 2014
— Naxos recording broadcast on more than 75 radio stations throughout the United States; regularly featured on stations including KUSC, Los Angeles, KDFC, San Francisco, WGUC, Cincinnati, and WCLV, Cleveland
— Naxos recording broadcast broadcast regularly on SiriusXM Symphony Hall, February 2014–present
— Nashville Symphony performance with fireworks July 4, 2019 telecast nationally on CMT
— Naxos recording featured on Living American with Peter Boyer, SiriusXM Symphony Hall, May 2020

Read Program Note

Silver Fanfare was composed as the first movement of the six-movement work On Music’s Wings, commissioned by Orange County’s Pacific Symphony to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Since the 25th is considered the “silver” among anniversaries, I chose that descriptor for its title. Though the larger work from which it comes calls for vocal soloists, children’s chorus, and SATB chorus in addition to the orchestra, Silver Fanfare is for orchestra alone. The first reason for this was a practical one: so that it could be performed separately, as a stand-alone work and concert opener. The second reason was simply to provide a showpiece for the virtuoso orchestra that is the Pacific Symphony. The work maintains a jubilant mood from start to finish.

It has been very gratifying to me that, subsequent to its premiere by the Pacific Symphony, Silver Fanfare has been performed by a number of America’s finest orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Nashville Symphony, and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra — and that it was chosen to open both the 2011 season of the Boston Pops and the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons of the Hollywood Bowl.

Silver Fanfare

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Peter Boyer, conductor

Photos from the Pacific Symphony premiere, rehearsal with the Boston Pops, performance on the Hollywood Bowl Opening Night with Journey