Michael Allen

I just received a request from the New York Philharmonic to perform/record for digital distribution my double quintet arrangement of the Arrival of Queen of Sheba from Handel's Opera Solomon. "Let me think about the request and get back to you." Full disclosure - this arrangement for double quintet was made about 15 years ago at the request of Ryan Anthony when he was still with the Canadian Brass for a holiday brass program with the principal brass players of the New York Philharmonic. This...

Classics for Brass (1972) comprises several great, iconic brass masterpieces (Schuller, Jolivet, Bozza, Strauss, Grieg, Dukas, and...

I'm on a week away from my day gig, chipping away at some BIG arranging projects. The music on my desktop right now is about 700 measures and it often seems overwhelming. The original score material has millions of notes (that may not be hyperbole), but once you peel away the embellishment (i.e. orchestral color and flourish), any given moment in the score is just a few ideas. I have a few thoughts that hopefully will be helpful to any who read this blog. Writing a big arrangement is like any...