Mizzou Music associate professor plays with London Symphony Orchestra
Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Mizzou, Brandon Boyd.
Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Mizzou, Brandon Boyd, will play the piano with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) on Sunday, November 5. This is Boyd's fourth performance with one of the world's top orchestras in the last two years.
Boyd says the associate conductor, Dr. Andre J. Thomas, his greatest mentor and doctoral advisor, invited him two years ago to be the guest pianist and programmed his arrangement of "Until I Reach My Home.”
"I was blown away by the opportunity and exposure to one of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras. Since then, I’ve been able to be at the piano when they’ve performed my original piece, 'Sign Me Up,' and this year, the London Symphony Orchestra, chorus and guests will be performing my setting of 'I’ll Fly Away' for full orchestra, chorus and soloists to close the concert.
I am very excited about this opportunity, and I thank God and Dr. Thomas because, as a kid, the LSO was the first professional orchestra I knew, and to have the chance to be the featured pianist (for the fourth time) is an opportunity I do not take lightly. I should also add the Gospel Mass of Robert Ray (a Missouri composer), who recently passed away, is a featured work on this concert along with many other great works by Black composers."
The LSO will perform American gospel music, combined with the symphonic sound of a chorus of over 250 voices from across the London community and feature some of the most impactful gospel artists writing and performing in the United States today.