Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty has achieved international recognition as one of the ten most performed American composers of concert music, according to the League of American Orchestras. His orchestral music, recorded by Naxos over the last two decades, has received six GRAMMY Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and in 2017 for Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra.

Michael Daugherty was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1954 and is the son of a dance-band drummer and the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. As a young man, Daugherty studied composition with many of the preeminent composers of the 20th century including Pierre Boulez at IRCAM in Paris (1979), Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, Bernard Rands and Roger Reynolds at Yale (1980-82), and György Ligeti in Hamburg (1982-84). Daugherty was also an assistant to jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York from 1980-82. In 1991, Daugherty joined the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance as Professor of Composition, where he is a mentor to many of today’s most talented young composers. He is also a frequent guest of professional orchestras, festivals, universities and conservatories around the world.

Daugherty’s music is published by Peermusic Classical/Faber Music, Boosey & Hawkes and Michael Daugherty Music. For more information on Michael Daugherty and his music, see his publisher’s websites.

Hila Plitmann, Grammy Award-Winning Singer, Songwriter & Actress
Hila Plitmann is a glittering jewel on the international music scene, known worldwide for her astonishing musicianship, light and beautiful voice and the ability to perform challenging new work. She has worked with many leading conductors, performing with the likes of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra.

The LSU Wind Ensemble is the premiere concert organization of the LSU Department of Bands and is comprised of the finest music major and non-major wind, brass, and percussion students. Through the performance of a wide range of repertoire, the LSU Wind Ensemble provides an opportunity for our students to develop and refine their individual musicianship. The LSU Wind Ensemble enjoys a rich history of collaborating with faculty soloists, composers, and guest artists from around the world, including a recent collaboration with Grammy-winning composer Michael Daugherty for a world premiere performance at the prestigious College Band Directors National Association Conference in 2019.

In addition to their regular series of six on-campus concerts, the Wind Ensemble has toured and performed at both regional and national music conventions. The LSU Wind Ensemble performs repertoire including original band works, chamber works, and selected transcriptions. The Wind Ensemble averages 50 musicians each year and rehearses Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:30-2:20. Auditions are open to all interested students. The course number for the ensemble is MUS 4251.

Damon Talley serves as Director of Bands and the Paula G. Manship Professor of Conducting at Louisiana State University School of Music, where he oversees all aspects of the LSU Department of Bands, conducts the Wind Ensemble, and teaches graduate conducting. The nationally recognized Band Department at LSU serves as an integral component of the thriving School of Music.

Under his leadership, the Department has established an annual conducting symposium, high school, and middle school camps that serve hundreds of students annually, and numerous outreach events for public school educators. The Golden Band From Tigerland has been selected to present at national conferences on multiple occasions, and most recently, the LSU Wind Ensemble has been selected to perform at the CBDNA College Band Directors National Association National Convention.

Talley is a strong supporter and advocate of music in the public schools. He regularly serves as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States and abroad, including appearances engagements in Germany, Switzerland, England, and Spain, among others.

Before his appointment at LSU, Talley held the position of Director of Bands at Shenandoah Conservatory, where he was responsible for guiding the wind band program, conducting the EDGE New Music Ensemble, and teaching graduate conducting. He has also taught on the faculties at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. He has recorded on Best Classical Records and received favorable reviews from publications including Gramophone magazine and the American Record Guide. He has also served as producer or associate producer on commercial recordings by the Naxos, Klavier, and Equilibrium, record labels, and is published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, distributed by GIA Publications.

As an avid supporter of new music for the wind medium, Talley has conducted numerous world premiere performances and has commissioned composers to write for the wind band. He has won praise for his work from composers such as William Bolcom, Steven Mackey, Kevin Puts, Joseph Schwantner, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham, and Michael Daugherty, among others. He regularly hosts visiting composers of national and international status on the campus of LSU, and is a strong advocate for young composers, often premiering pieces by student composers.

Songs from a Silent Land (2019) by multiple Grammy award-winning composer Michael Daugherty is a three movement song cycle for soprano and chamber winds on poetry of Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, which reflects on this world and the possibility of a next world. Joined by the LSU Wind Ensemble, impeccably conducted by Damon Talley, Grammy award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann delivers a stunning performance.