A Florida Fanfare that makes a real splash
By Kurt Loft
It’s not every day that a classical composer sits
down and writes a piece of music about your
home town. But that’s what Daniel Crozier
did with his newly minted Splendor Fountain,
his homage to the Tampa, St. Petersburg and
Clearwater area.
“The title reflects Tampa Bay, not a fountain
as such but of the water that’s everywhere,’’
Crozier said. “I toyed with a lot of different
titles that suggest water, and this captured
what I was looking for.’’
Crozier is part of the Florida Fanfare Project,
which commissioned five musicians to write
short works as part of The Florida Orchestra’s
50th anniversary season. Splendor Fountain
receives its first-ever performances during the
Dvorak’s Cello Concerto Masterworks program
Jan. 19-21.
The orchestra reached out to colleges and
universities around the state, including
Rollins College in Winter Park, where Crozier
teaches theory and composition. When the
music department’s chairman ask if he’d be
interested in composing a new piece, Crozier
didn’t think twice – even though he was busy
writing a clarinet concerto for the Boston
Symphony Orchestra.
“It’s exciting because The Florida Orchestra
is one of the premier ensembles in the
Southeast,’’ he said. “So I jumped at the chance
even though I was too busy to do it.’’
The Fanfare Project guidelines encouraged
Crozier to give it a shot: The piece can’t be
more than five minutes long, a sort of musical
appetizer rather than a main course.
“That’s perfectly reasonable for a fanfare,’’ he
said. “My original score was actually a little
under what they wanted so I added another
80 measures. That makes it, oh, about four
THE FLORIDA OR 50 CHESTRA | 2017-2018
minutes now.’’
Crozier, who is a
nephew of the late
Fred Rogers, host
of the children’s
t e l e v i s i o n
series Mr. Rogers’
Neighborhood, drew
inspiration from his
childhood visits to Belleair,
where his grandmother spent winters away
from her Pennsylvania home. The young
Crozier remembers carefree days frolicking
around the bay area, and being impressed
with the gulf, bays, lakes and rivers.
“It was a magical place for me,’’ he said. “I’ve
always loved Tampa Bay and driving across
the causeways over the water. That made an
impression on me.’’
Splendor Fountain, then, is an impressionistic
piece that suggests water in its lyrical use of
harp, vibraphone, and marimba. Dance-like
rhythms in the brass dominate the rest of the
work, fitting of most traditional fanfares.
Crozier looks forward to January’s concerts,
when he’ll hear the work for the first time,
outside his own head. His ideas will hardly
have time to settle before they jump off the
stage.
“The ink is still wet on the page,’’ he said. “You
hear stories about Mozart finishing a piece the
night before the opera opens, and that’s sort
of how I feel.’’
Other upcoming Florida Fanfare project
performances include new works by Dorothy
Hindman, associate professor of composition
at the University of Miami (Feb. 16-18); and
Manuel de Murga, associate professor of music
at Stetson University in Deland (May 4-6).