Composer Peter Boyer's Piece Commissioned for Biden/Harris Inauguration

The United States Marine Band commissioned the American composer for a special fanfare to be performed at the U.S. Capitol on January 20th, 2021

Boyer’s new work, "Fanfare for Tomorrow," will be performed as part of the one hour prelude music of the inauguration, conducted by Colonel Jason K. Fettig, the Marine Band’s Director.

The piece, originally for solo French horn, was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra. Boyer significantly expanded and developed it for a full concert band for this inaugural commission.

Boyer has conducted recordings of his music with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has received commissions from the Kennedy Center for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, and the United States Marine Band.

The United States Marine Band, the “The President’s Own,” is America’s oldest continuously active musical organization. It is said that it debuted in 1801 for Thomas Jefferson's inauguration.

"I had just over a week to compose and orchestrate the piece," Boyer said. "Col. Jason Fettig had cautioned me about writing too high for the brass, due to the very cold conditions in which the piece would be performed outdoors. While I did keep that in mind while composing, apparently I didn't do so fully enough... When I delivered the score to him, he loved the piece, but said that the high trumpet writing, while it would be fine for the Marine Band to play in the concert hall, would be too precarious to perform in the freezing cold. So after the first rehearsal, he asked me to transpose the piece down a whole step, to make it less precarious to play. I had just a few hours to create and deliver this lower key version of the piece to the Marine Band. Happily, It seems to have worked out well!"